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TALES OF TRAVEL 



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HORACE A. TAYLOR 



TALES OF TRAVEL 



ALL AROUND THE WORLD 



BY 



HORACE A. TAYLOR 




New York and Washington 

THE NEALE PUBLISHING COMPANY 

1909 



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Copyright, 1909, by 
HORACE A. TAYLOR 




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TO MY WIFE 

Who accompanied me on all my trav- 
els, lightening the hardships, multiply- 
ing the pleasures, and keenly grasping 
the beauties, the horrors, and the les- 
sons of wonders seen and heard, this 
modest volume is affectionately dedi- 
cated. 



CONTENTS 
Chapter i 

Benefits of Travel — The Author's Fondness For 
It — Early Experiences and Incidents 15 

AROUND THE WORLD 
CHAPTER II 

Starting on "Around the World" Trip — Some 
Months in this Country — Two Years Should Be 
Spent Abroad 18 

SEA VOYAGES 
CHAPTER III 

Sea Voyages — Sailing — Cosmopolitan Life on 
Shipboard — Storms at Sea 20 

SANDWICH ISLANDS 
CHAPTER IV 

Honolulu and the Sandwich Islands — The 
People, Climate, Products — The Volcano of 
Mount Kilauea — A Beautiful Custom 24 

JAPAN 

CHAPTER V 

Arrival in Japan — Information and Misinforma- 
tion — My First Impressions — -Climate — Popula- 
tion — Emigration 3 l 

CHAPTER VI 

The Japanese People — How They Look, Live 
and Labor — Trickery in Trade — Poverty and 
Work 39 



8 TALES OF TRAVEL 

CHAPTER VII 

Japan Continued — Domestic Love — Lack of 
Home Comforts — Dress — Loyalty — Religion — Pov- 
erty 44 

CHAPTER VIII 

Japanese Art — Its Genius and Beauty — How It 
Suffers 52 

CHAPTER IX 

Agriculture — How Carried On — The Pro- 
ducts — Prices of Labor and Living 56 

CHAPTER X 

Money — Music — Society — Hotels — Marriages — 
Progress 60 

CHAPTER XI 

Foreign Missions. — Impressions. — The Charms 
of Japan 65 

CHAPTER XII 

Notes From a Diary. — Imperial Garden Party. — 
Tokio. — Yoshiwara. — Forty-seven Ronins . 72 

CHAPTER XIII 

Yokohama — Its Residents — Principal Port — 
Landing — Hotels — Kamakura — Enoshima 80 

CHAPTER XIV 

Western Japan — Fuji, the Sacred Mountain — 
Kyoto . . . .. 84 

CHAPTER XV 

Nikko — Magnificent Temples — A Religious Cen- 
ter — Lake Chuzenji 88 



CONTENTS 9 

CHAPTER XVI 

Fourth of July at Yokohama — The Great Holi- 
day of the Year 91 

CHAPTER XVII 

Lake Hakone District — Miyanoshita — Atami — 
Rickshaw Tram 93 

CHAPTER XVIII 

Kobe — Osaka — Inland Sea — Nagasaki — Charms 
of Japan 97 

CHINA 
CHAPTER XIX 

Japan to China — Pacific Mail Steamers — Shang- 
hai — Yangtse River , 102 

CHAPTER XX 

Pekin — Historical and Interesting — Dilapidated 
and Dirty Temples — Boxer War 109 

CHAPTER XXI 

Visit to Great Wall — Ming Tombs — Nankou 
Pass — Reflections — Advice 116 

CHAPTER XXII 

Tientsin — Chefoo — Lace Making — Foreign Mis- 
sions 125 

CHAPTER XXIII 

Hong Kong — Canton — Maccoa — American Busi- 
ness and Influence in the Orient — Off for Singa- 
pore 130 

CHAPTER XXIV 
The Future of China — China and Japan 138 



io TALES OF TRAVEL 

JAVA 

CHAPTER XXV 

Trip to Java — How the People Live — Singa- 
pore — Johore 142 

BURMAH 

CHAPTER XXVI 

Trip to Burmah — A Typhoon — Rangoon — "Fair 
Mandalay" — A Great Pagoda — Oriental Wedding 151 

INDIA 

CHAPTER XXVII 

India — Calcutta — Catching a Tiger — Travel- 
ing — Benares — The Ganges 159 

CHAPTER XXVIII 

Lucknow — A Mongoose and Cobra Fight — The 
Great Indian Mutiny 167 

CHAPTER XXIX 

Cawnpore — More of the Mutiny — Agra — -The 
Taj Mahal 172 

CHAPTER XXX 

Delhi — A Celebrated City — Gems and Jewels — 
Ahmedabad 178 

CHAPTER XXXI 

Bombay — The Elephanta Caves — Towers of 
Silence? — Parsi Wedding 183 

CHAPTER XXXII 

Madras — Courts of Justice — Southern Tem- 
ples — Trichinopoly — Tanjore — Madura 187 



CONTENTS ii 

CHAPTER XXXIII 

Opinion of India — Climate and Customs — 
Caste — Early Marriages — English Control ...... 192 

CEYLON 

CHAPTER XXXIV 

Ceylon — Beautiful Country — Christmas — Indian 
Ocean and Red Sea — Aden — Arabia — Suez Canal 198 

CHAPTER XXXV 

Life in the Orient — Two Sides to the Picture . . 204 

AFRICA 

CHAPTER XXXVI 

Africa — Algiers — Boar Hunt — Tunis — Ancient 
Carthage — "Home, Sweet Home" 208 

HOLY LAND— EGYPT— TURKEY 
CHAPTER XXXVII 

To the Holy Land — Disagreeable Sea Trip — 
Jerusalem — Jericho — Bethlehem — The Dea Sea . . 212 

CHAPTER XXXVIII 

Up the Nile — The Old Days — Gigantic Ruins — 
Donkey Boys — Luxor — Assuam — Past and Present 224 

CHAPTER XXXIX 

Cairo — Alexandria — A Little History — 
Smyrna — Constantinople 233 

EUROPE 
CHAPTER XL 

Athens — A White Man's Country — Modern and 
Ancient — Messina — Naples — Pompeii 240 



12 TALES OF TRAVEL 

CHAPTER XLI 
Europe — Marseilles — Nice — Monte Carlo 245 

CHAPTER XLII 
Rome, the Imperial City — Florence 251 

CHAPTER XLIII 
Venice — Vienna — Dresden — Berlin — Brehmen . 255 

CHAPTER XLIV 

Cologne — The Great Cathedral — Bones of the 
Virgins — The Rhine 261 

CHAPTER XLV 

Heidelberg — Baden Baden — Ignorance of Amer- 
ica — German Life — Switzerland 265 

HOME AGAIN 
CHAPTER XLVI 

Hardships of Travel — Suggestions — Expense . . . 270 



INTRODUCTION 

It is a universal trait in human nature, civilized 
and savage, to desire to learn all that is possible of 
other people. We are all curious about our neigh- 
bors — ^as to how they look and live and act, their 
business, beliefs, characters, and characteristics. It 
is so all around the world. The people of every 
race, class, and country are interested to learn what 
they can of other people living in distant parts of 
the world. It is this trait that gives a never-end- 
ing interest and charm to the tales of travel told 
by. the world travelers. 

It is in response to many requests from friends 
and strangers who have read my "Around the 
World" letters published in the newspapers, that 
I "write a book" — that has induced me to issue 
this modest volume. 

Somebody has said that "there is no story as 
enchanting as the story of a human life." I think 
there is much more information and interest in the 
story of a nation, with its millions of human lives, 
its history, achievements, customs, characteristics, 
and all its varied and vast concerns. 

It is not my purpose to write a history of the 
many countries visited or to make lengthy disser- 
tations on the people met or the things seen and 
heard. I shall not attempt profound discussions, 
nor ramble into garrulous details. I shall write 
mainly of the common people as I saw them, of 



i 4 TALES OF TRAVEL 

their looks, habits and conditions; of the won- 
derful landscapes as seen in the morning light 
or sunset glow; of the prodigious monuments of 
antiquity as exhibited in tombs and temples, pal- 
aces and pyramids, some standing, but most of 
them in ruins. I shall report as concisely and ac- 
curately as I can the conditions and prospects of 
the people, the climates, products, and general 
characteristics of the countries visited. I shall 
speak of incidents and scenes that were especially 
novel, instructive, amusing or pathetic; and in- 
dulge occasionally in a breath of sentiment or 
touch of color to relieve of possible monotony the 
more common details recounted. I shall give a 
plainly painted but truthful picture of the people 
and scenes in most of the great countries around 
the world, where, during nearly every waking 
hour of more than two years of constant travel, I 
gazed upon scenes of the deepest historic interest, 
or of those around which the magic hand of legend 
has woven its wondrous tales. 

I hope a brief recital of these scenes and ex- 
periences may bring something of interest and in- 
formation to at least a small circle of friendly 
readers. H. A. T. 



TALES OF TRAVEL 



CHAPTER I 

BENEFITS OF TRAVEL— THE AUTHOR'S FONDNESS 
FOR IT— EARLY EXPERIENCES AND INCIDENTS. 

In the harvests of human thought and expe- 
rience, as in the harvests of the soil, the wider the 
fields the fuller will the storehouses be. No edu- 
cation is more pleasurable and practical than the 
education of travel. It enriches the mind with new 
facts and ideas, brings fresh experiences fruitful 
in interesting and useful knowledge and brightens 
and broadens the whole horizon of one's existence. 

The blue sky bends in beauty alike over us all; 
but to most of us it forever touches the earth but 
a little way off ; to others, more curious or favored, 
it reveals more distinct and wider scenes; and to 
still others, a fortunate few, it reaches across the 
wide seas and unrolls to their delighted gaze the 
wonderful panorama of the world. 

It is given to the traveler to lift this curtain of 
the sky that shuts in these little worlds of ours, and 
show us what there is beyond. No experiences can 
be more profitable than those which familiarize us 
with the people, customs, and institutions of other 
countries; and no pastime be more enchanting — 
though amid heat or cold, and many privations 
and hardships — than to gaze upon the beauties 



1 6 TALES OF TRAVEL 

and wonders of foreign lands and bask in the 
brightness of foreign skies. 

I have always had a great fondness for travel. 
In my very early boyhood nothing so delighted 
me as to be permitted to visit neighboring towns 
and villages, even though they were not a dozen 
miles from my home. I always saw something 
new and interesting, different from any thing on 
the farm where I lived, and hence was entertained. 

At the early age of ttn years I left my home in 
St. Lawrence County, New York, and made what 
was then considered a marvelous trip — far out into 
the "Wild West," to Illinois, on the very verge 
of civilization. Three years later I went up the 
Mississippi River from Galena, Illinois, then the 
most important town above St. Louis, to St. Paul. 
St. Paul was a little straggling hamlet, and Minne- 
apolis was unnamed and unknown. On the way 
up the river we saw many Indian villages, and one 
recent battle ground, where the trees were filled 
with the dead Indians, it being the custom to place 
them there a few days before burial. But we saw 
no white faces except at one place, Prairie du 
Chien, Wisconsin. There was a fort there, with a 
small garrison, who nearly all came down to the 
river to see the boat and passengers. Among the 
number were Lieutenant Jefferson Davis, later 
President of the Southern Confederacy, and his 
new wife, a daughter of Zachary Taylor, Presi- 
dent of the United States. Shortly before he had 
eloped with her, and later had been assigned to 
duty at this far western post. 



AROUND THE WORLD . 17 

There were a good many interesting things to 
be seen and heard on the trip, and with my boy- 
ish enthusiasm and curiosity I missed very little 
that was going on. I remember one rather funny 
incident. Among the passengers was a Boston 
schoolma'am, of uncertain age — we would Call 
her a "bachelor girl" now — who was very ro- 
mantic and inquisitive. There had been much talk 
about the Indians, -and especially of the various 
hostile tribes. At supper one night somebody said 
that St. Paul, which happened then to be the topic 
of conversation, was settled largely by the 
Mainites. The voluble Boston spinster, suppos- 
ing "Mainites" to be a tribe of Indians, piped up, 
"Oh, are they friendly to the whites?" 

In later years, before starting upon the "around 
the world" trip, I had traveled quite widely at 
home and abroad; visited every State and Terri- 
tory in the Union, including a summer given to ex- 
ploring southern, central and northwestern Alaska ; 
visited most of the countries of Europe several 
times, and spent one winter in northern Africa. 



CHAPTER II 

STARTING ON "AROUND THE WORLD" TRIP— SOME 
MONTHS IN THIS COUNTRY— TWO YEARS 
SHOULD BE SPENT ABROAD. 

In June, 1906, I resigned my official position as 
Assistant Secretary of the United States Treasury 
Department, committed my private business to the 
hands of agents, and, with my wife, started on a 
trip of leisure and unlimited length "around the 
world." Some months were spent traveling in our 
own country and in British America before sailing 
for foreign shores. We made a cruise at the invi- 
tation of Uncle Sam, in whose service I had 
so long been engaged, on a revenue cutter up Long 
Island Sound and along the coast of New Eng- 
land, to the noted summer resort of Bar Harbor, 
Maine. We embarked at Staten Island, where we 
remained anchored for a day, watching, interested 
and enamored, that marvelous marine panorama 
that forever unrolls its changing pictures of life 
and business and pleasure in New York's busy bay. 
We stopped at many places noted in our country's 
history — Newport, where wealth displays its 
splendors and the devotees of fashion their follies; 
New Bedford, the former home of the sailors and 
whalers whose exploits upon the seas made them 
and their country famous; Salem, where in early 
days the sainted Puritans battled with the rigorous 
climate and rocky soil, worshiped God and hanged 



AROUND THE WORLD 19 

"witches"; Boston, "the Hub," celebrated for its 
history, its culture, its patriotism, and the enter- 
prise and egotism of its inhabitants. 

From Bar Harbor we started across the conti- 
nent by way of Canada, the St. Lawrence River, 
the Great Lakes and Western States, to the Pacific 
Coast, literally traversing the country "from 
Maine to California." There is no such extensive 
stretch of country, with as temperate climates, 
fertile soils, resources of forests and mines, vil- 
lages and cities and marvelous natural wonders, 
and charming landscapes, in all the world. 

We remained several weeks of the early winter 
in that paradise of the tourist and health-seeker, 
Southern California, and sailed from San Francisco 
for our long trip to the Orient and around the 
world. 

The trip by water around to New York or other 
Atlantic seaports can be made by the direct route 
in about sixty days. This, however, gives no oppor- 
tunity for sight-seeing, except the occasional 
glimpses caught at the few seaports where the 
transcontinental steamers call. That one may 
gain a fairly comprehensive knowledge of the 
many countries visited, it takes fully two years of 
practically steady travel to make a satisfactory 
trip. 



CHAPTER III 

SEA VOYAGES— SAILING— COSMOPOLITAN LIFE ON 
SHIPBOARD— STORMS AT SEA. 

To the world traveler the sea voyages are the 
first and the last great events of Interest, no matter 
whether he anticipates them with pleasure or with 
dread. The seas to cross are broad, and be they 
calm or boisterous, they are never uninteresting. 
Comparatively few passengers, if their words and 
demeanor reveal their feelings, really enjoy a pro- 
tracted sea voyage. No matter how luxurious the 
accommodations of the ship, how fine the weather, 
or agreeable the company, there runs through all 
the apparent pleasure a thread of uneasiness and 
discontent. The time drags, the days are often 
counted before the voyage will be over, specula- 
tions as to the weather are constant, and often 
there comes the unbidden thought that many a 
staunch and gallant ship has sailed gayly from port 
never to cast anchor on the other shore. 

In these prosperous days so many of our people 
make trips abroad that descriptions of ocean travel 
will no doubt seem to some as exceedingly stale 
reading. But it should be remembered that but a 
very small portion of the people are permitted to 
indulge in any extended travel. I do not believe 
that, of our more than eighty millions of popula- 
tion, one-eighth, perhaps, barring recent immi- 



AROUND THE WORLD 21 

grants, have ever boarded, or even seen, an ocean 
steamer. And so I think a few lines telling of 
"life on the ocean wave" may not be uninteresting 
to a majority of readers. 

The sailing of a great ocean liner, no matter 
what her port of departure or destination, is always 
an event of keen interest and never fails to attract 
large crowds. For hours all is noise, bustle, and 
confusion. Then the last consignments of freight 
are on board, the last passenger hurried up the 
gangways, the mighty engines begin to throb, the 
great screws turn, and the ship swings tremblingly 
from her moorings, while handkerchiefs from deck 
and shore wave their adieu, and, amid cheers and 
tears, the great ship heads out to sea. 

While there is much of monotony in sea life, 
there are also many diversions — agreeable people 
to be met (and a great many not so agreeable), 
pleasant acquaintances to be made, many books to 
read, games to play, and idle hours in which to 
converse, and sleep, and dream. The sea is a 
versatile companion, full of moods and passions 
and manifestations. It may be serene and smiling, 
or somber and solemn. Sometimes it murmurs in 
mellow tones, laughing, gentle, and confiding, and 
again it roars and bellows in a very frenzy of rage, 
like some horrid monster with gnashing teeth and 
frothy jaws, seeking whom he may devour. 

To the timid or those with dizzy heads or re- 
bellious stomachs a storm at sea is a terrific trial, 
for fright and sickness are dread companions with 
which to travel. In its wrath, when the wicked 



22 TALES OF TRAVEL 

winds have tortured the sea into fury, it is cruel 
and terrifying. I am a good sailor, and the tumult 
of winds and waves bring to me no mental or physi- 
cal disturbance. I have often stood upon the decks, 
lashed to rail or mast for safety, to watch the 
storms. They are grand and awful, and are a sub- 
lime sight to witness. The waves are powerful in 
their strength, and their wrath is terrible, as they 
rush upon the toiling ship straining and struggling 
against the mighty forces of wind and water that 
assail it. They beat against it, tug and wrestle 
with its every joint, heave it high on to their 
dizzy crests and plunge it into awful gulfs. They 
surge around it, and over it, and throw their long 
arms high into the reeling rigging. Sometimes 
the forked lightning plays about the towering 
masts, and the bellowing thunder deafens the 
frightful sounds of shrieking winds and roaring 
waters. Sometimes the darkness envelops every- 
thing, so that nothing can be seen save here and 
there the top of some great billow as its foaming 
crest breaks up against the blackness of the sky. 
It is a thrilling experience, — a delight, per- 
chance, — but more likely a terror to witness a 
great storm at sea. 

The passenger lists of the great ocean steam- 
ships, no matter where they sail, represent as cos- 
mopolitan crowds as can be found assembled any- 
where. There are representatives of all kinds, 
classes and conditions of people, from almost every 
clime and country, from the poor, dirty and ignor- 
ant crowded in the steerage, to the rich, stylish, cul- 



AROUND THE WORLD 23 

tured ones who occupy the luxurious cabins and 
saloons on the upper decks. Society is as varied 
and composite on shipboard as on land. You find 
the plebeian and the aristocrat; the peasant and 
the prince; the immigrant seeking a new home; 
the merchant looking for new markets ; the tourist 
in quest of pleasure; the scholar and scientist on 
the way to new fields of study; the missionary 
going out to educate the minds and save the souls 
of the heathen — they are all there. And what a 
study in human nature they make ! Some are 
cheerful and companionable, some blatant and ob- 
noxious, some reticent and reserved. The smoking- 
room is always a great resort and usually crowded. 
Here you can find much of entertainment and in- 
formation. You can hear many languages, wit- 
ness a great variety of games, and listen to learned 
discussions on almost every subject. There are 
oracles in every branch of knowledge. There are 
few subjects mentioned that somebody is not fa- 
miliar with and an important question is rarely 
asked that does not receive prompt answer. The 
smoking-room is the social center of the ship, 
where companionship, diversion and good cheer 
always abound. It is no wonder that many ladies 
frequent it. 



THE SANDWICH ISLANDS 



CHAPTER IV 

HONOLULU AND THE SANDWICH ISLANDS— THE 
PEOPLE, CLIMATE, PRODUCTS— THE VOLCANO 
OF MOUNT KILAUEA— A BEAUTIFUL CUSTOM. 

On the morning of the seventh day after sail- 
ing from San Francisco our good ship steamed 
into the Bay of Honolulu, a city that has been 
named, and I think rightly, "The Paradise of the 
Pacific." 

In my earliest boyhood days, when I had first 
learned to read, I became much interested in the 
Sandwich Islands. The reason was this: My 
father was a Congregational minister. No papers 
or literature of any kind were allowed in the home 
not of a religious character. Foreign missions 
were of great interest then, it seems to me more 
than now. One of the leading periodicals in our 
house was the Missionary Herald (I think that 
was the name) and I was quite a constant reader 
of it. It was made up largely of letters and re- 
ports from foreign missionary fields, and some of 
the letters, written by persons whose thoughts were 
not wholly restricted to the spread of the gospel 
and saving the souls of the heathenish Sandwich 
Islanders, used to write interestingly of the country, 
looks and habits of the people, the tropical condi- 



THE SANDWICH ISLANDS 25 

tions, the scenery, the wonderful mountains and 
terrible volcanoes, the fruits and flowers, and 
strange animals and fishes that abounded there. 
Such letters, although lacking in the true "mission- 
ary spirit," appealed strongly to the worldly and 
youthful reader, and so I became much interested 
in the Sandwich Islands, and all my life had been 
anxious to visit them. 

The principal islands of the group are Oahau 
(pronounced Wahoo), on which Honolulu is lo- 
cated, and Hawaii, containing the charming city of 
Hilo. They are nearly two hundred miles apart. 
There are several other quite large islands partially 
settled and tilled or devoted to grazing, but they 
contain no cities or villages of much importance. 

The island of Molakai is noted for being the 
"home of the leper." Several hundred are con- 
fined there and not allowed to leave the island. 
They are under the supervision of the territory. 
The United States government is now building a 
sanatorium and laboratory to care for the lepers 
who are unable to care for themselves, and also 
to make scientific investigations into the causes and 
cures of this loathsome disease. Speed the good 
work. 

The day we arrived, early in February, it was 
very warm, and most of the ladies were in summer 
clothes, which are worn here all the time, for while 
this is winter, the sun's rays are often too warm for 
comfort, and the stranger must learn to go a little 
slowly. It is a sort of fairyland in many ways — 
beautiful scenery and flowers, the softest, balmiest 



26 TALES OF TRAVEL 

air, and all around the wonder of hills with ever- 
varying moods, lights, and shadows, and a sea 
remarkable for the beautiful colors and hues seen 
in it. It is a country where all nature woos, and 
while they say the white man does not lose his 
energy, I think it would soon become a land of 
"poco tiempo," (the land of "pretty soon") to me. 
The stars seem brighter here, and when we listen 
to the natives sing their songs our thoughts turn 
to those we love with a new feeling, and the ab- 
sent ones grow dearer. 

Honolulu is a most attractive and charming city. 
Its location on the beautiful plateau and foot- 
hills lying between the mountains and the sea, its 
balmy and equable climate, its wealth of luxurious 
and tropical vegetation, its cozy and elegant homes 
surrounded by rich gardens and ample and well 
kept grounds, its exuberance of flowers and ever- 
greens and stately palms, all combine to make the 
city seem like a great park, restful and enchanting. 

There is a large commerce in Honolulu, it being 
the principal port and general distributing center 
for the islands. There are many fine mercantile 
establishments, shipping houses, banks and trust 
companies, beside a myriad of smaller shops gen- 
erally Oriental in character. Most of the financial 
institutions or large business concerns are owned 
or controlled by the sugar interests. The sugar 
planters largely absorb the capital, employ the 
labor, and control the building of the islands. 
Everything depends on the amount and value of 
the sugar crop. 



THE SANDWICH ISLANDS 27 

Honolulu is a distinctly cosmopolitan city; few 
cities in the world are more so. Here the Occi- 
dent and the Orient meet. Here you find the 
colors, the languages, the customs, the dress, the 
religions of the Eastern and the Western World 
mingling in one mighty mass of diversified and 
picturesque humanity. The nationalities most in 
evidence are American, English, Scotch, German, 
Japanese, Chinese, Portuguese and native Ha- 
waiians although many other nationalities are 
represented. The natives are fast giving way in 
business and government to the foreign element, 
who not only greatly outnumber them, but who 
surpass them in industry, intelligence, enterprise, 
and all the requisites of an advanced citizenship. 
The native Hawaiian is easy-going, good-natured, 
and altogether unambitous. He lacks the desire 
to work, and the ability to get comfortably along 
without it. He has neither energy nor cunning. 
Like the North American Indian, he is giving way 
to higher and superior powers and will soon perish 
from the face of the earth. 

I was much interested in a small public school 
across the street from our hotel, and in the chil- 
dren — native and foreign, all brown-skinned, bare- 
headed, bare-legged, and in varied costumes — who 
attended it. They assemble about eight o'clock, 
and presently one of the larger boys comes out with 
a big flag, another one stands ready to help, and 
in a few minutes up it goes, and one forgets that 
five thousand miles are between him and home. 
One day the number was augmented by a little 



28 TALES OF TRAVEL 

Chinese girl in native jacket and trousers, with 
long black braid into which had been woven the 
cord of bright color they all seem to love. When 
the teacher signals by a clap of the hand that as- 
sembling time has come, there is instantaneous 
silence, and I have had to laugh to see the little 
Chinese tot try to mark time at the end of the line, 
as they marched into the schoolroom. Their voices 
came to me very sweetly as they sang the old songs 
we have all sung, the "Our Father in Heaven," 
and "Oh, the joys of childhood, roaming through 
the wildwood," and the thought came that gradu- 
ally China will be awakened, and part of the 
awakening will come through the American pub- 
lic school system, which the flag protects and safe- 
guards. 

The most conspicuous characteristic of the resi- 
dents of Honolulu, both natives and foreigners, 
is their charming and unbounded hospitality. It 
is unsurpassed. The "stranger within their gates" 
is made to feel at home at once. It is not to nota- 
bles alone that is extended their warm and gracious 
greetings. All visitors are taken into their hearts 
and homes, and fairly embarrassed with the charm- 
ing courtesies extended — calls, luncheons, dinners, 
receptions, drives, auto rides with bewildering fre- 
quency. Every want is anticipated and supplied. 
The days and nights are filled with entertainment. 
The people are as warm and sunshiny as the cli- 
mate, and their welcomes and farewells as sweet as 
the Hawaiian songs that fill the air with softest 
music. 



THE SANDWICH ISLANDS 29 

We made a trip — it had to be by water — up to 
the great volcano, Mount Kilauea, on the island 
of Hawaii. It is a tempestuous and altogether 
disagreeable voyage to make. The winds are 
strong and the waters always rough between the 
islands. We landed at Hilo. From there we went 
up on a railroad, some forty miles, as I remember, 
and then traveled some hours by stage, through 
coffee and sugar plantations, amid the most beau- 
tiful flowers, shrubs and ferns, and across the 
rough craters of extinct volcanoes. The Volcano 
House, where visitors stop, is fairly comfortable, 
located about seven miles from the active crater, 
where the volcano makes her fascinating and 
terrifying displays. At Vesuvius and Aetna, other 
volcanoes I have visited, you cannot approach the 
very edge of the burning crater, to see down into 
the fiery gulfs below. At Kilauea you can reach 
the very verge, and look down into the awful pit 
upon the seething mass of molten lava that for- 
ever rolls and boils and spouts, a veritable lake of 
fire and brimstone. It's hell, all right, and no 
mistake. 

Hilo is a pleasant city, but it is isolated, off from 
the main lines of travel and commerce, far re- 
moved from the great world and its many activi- 
ties. We were beautifully entertained there, on 
one of the large sugar plantations by the manager, 
Mr. Scott, a most hospitable and charming gentle- 
men. He has a beautiful home and everything in 
it to make life pleasant — except company. At 
breakfast he called our attention to the interesting 



30 TALES OF TRAVEL 

fact that nearly every article of food on the table 
was raised on the plantation. There were fruit, 
tea, coffee, milk, cream and sugar, eggs, meat and 
vegetables. As we drove away to take our ship 
to return to Honolulu, he invited us to come again, 
and a dainty little Japanese maid said, "Thank 
you, come me some more." 

The tourist and the seeker after rest or pleasure 
will find Honolulu a most delightful place in which 
to spend the winter months. The climate, the 
scenery, the people, all combine to make a visit 
there one of exceeding interest and charm. After 
several enjoyable weeks there we left with much 
regret. 

A beautiful custom obtains in Honolulu, in 
vogue nowhere else in the world. When "speed- 
ing the parting guests" they are loaded down with 
garlands of leaves and flowers called "leis." And 
when the friends have left the shore and are a little 
way out to sea, they throw the beautiful leis over- 
board, that winds and waves may waft them, laden 
with love, back to friends. On arrival at Hono- 
lulu the greeting is "Aloha," meaning "Love to 
you," and on departure the beautiful and fragrant 
leis bear love from shore to ship and waft it back 
again from ship to shore. And so numbers of 
our friends boarded the ship at our departure and 
almost smothered us with the lovely and fragrant 
leis hung about our heads and around our necks; 
and loaded with these sweet reminders we waved 
fond farewells as the great ship swung from her 
moorings and started on the long journey to Japan. 



JAPAN 



CHAPTER V 

ARRIVAL IN JAPAN— INFORMATION AND MISINFOR- 
MATION—MY FIRST IMPRESSIONS— CLIMATE- 
POPULATION— EMIGRATION. 

On the morning of March 26, 1907, our ship 
dropped anchor in the busy and beautiful harbor 
of Yokohama, only a short distance from the his- 
toric spot where, in 1853 Commodore Perry an- 
chored his fleet, and by his persuasive arguments, 
backed by his threatening guns that frowned from 
his warships, induced the heretofore unknown and 
mysterious empire of Japan to open her ports to 
the world's commerce and civilization. 

There has been so much written about Japan, 
so much information and misinformation, so many 
fairy and false tales told, so much of history and 
legend, so much of extravagant praise and unde- 
served criticism, so much superficial and silly gos- 
sip, and thorough and profound research, that I 
am bewildered and embarrassed in the attempt to 
give my impressions amid this wilderness of con- 
tradictions. I am fully aware that in a few 
months' sojourn, no matter how active one may be 
in observing the people and things, or how anxious 
to correctly represent them, one may form false 
judgments and fall into unfortunate errors. It 



32 TALES OF TRAVEL 

is the work of years to write exhaustively and 
accurately the habits, beliefs and general character- 
istics and history of a nation. It is a double task 
when the stories of the long gone years are en- 
veloped in the mysteries of antiquity. « 

My only purpose is to tell briefly of what I have 
seen and heard and do know. Of the past I have 
little to say; of the future I have a few predictions 
to make. I report, as correctly as I can, present 
conditions and the character of the country, the 
government and the people as I have seen them. 

The beauty of its natural scenery is marvelous 
beyond description. In scenic effects Japan has 
been to me most pleasingly disappointing. I have 
also been greatly impressed with the amiability and 
courtesy of its people to strangers and to one 
another, with their loyalty to their country and 
their love of kindred. In other respects I have been 
disappointed. I find more poverty and less com- 
fort; more labor and less leisure; more beastly toil 
and less intelligent work; more ignorance and less 
education; more decay and less growth; more de- 
ception and less frankness; more of government 
control and less of individual liberty; more of cere- 
mony and less sanctity; more gaudy display and 
ribald conduct and less true and genuine rever- 
ence — in short more of the Barbaric and less of 
the Civilized, more of the Old and less of the 
New, than I expected. 

The climate of Japan, while possibly healthful, 
is not an agreeable one. It is subject to great 
extremes of heat and cold. In the summer there 



JAPAN 33 

is a great deal of rain, and in the winter, natives 
tell me, the snowfall is extremely heavy. The 
springs, as a rule, are windy and raw and wet. 
The days when the sun shines are warm, but the 
nights and cloudy days are disagreeably cold and 
piercing. The amount of rainfall is surprising. 
The statistics for twenty-five years, from 1876- 
1900, show at Tokio — and this is stated to 
be the driest section of the country — an average 
annual rainfall of over fifty-seven inches, and over 
140 rainy days in the year. In the spring fre- 
quent high winds and storms prevail, which work 
great destruction to the grains and flowers. The 
most terrific hailstorm I ever witnessed occurred 
in Yokohama after the middle of April. It came 
at two o'clock in the afternoon, and the next morn- 
ing piles of the stones that had been swept from 
the sidewalks and streets into the gutters had not 
yet been melted. Statistics show that from April 
to July, inclusive, nearly every other day is rainy; 
in March and August one day in three, and in 
September and October one day in every two; in 
the other months there is less rain. 

Our stay was from March to September, and so 
I can speak from personal knowledge only of the 
weather in spring and summer. The spring of 
1907 was wet and cold, unusually so, the residents 
stated. But I have discovered that wherever you 
travel, at home or abroad, and strike disagree- 
able weather, that you are solemnly assured by the 
natives that it is very exceptional. At Nikko we 
had a fire into the latter half of June. The sum- 



34 TALES OF TRAVEL 

mer, July and August, was extremely hot, even in 
the mountains, and terrific storms were not infre- 
quent. The wicked typhoons that ravage the sea 
and wreck the shipping penetrate into the interior, 
and sometimes work frightful havoc. In Japan, 
as in other countries where there is much bad 
weather, the days that are pleasant are delightfully 
bright and fresh and charming— whether on the 
mountains, in the valleys, or at the seashore, there 
are days absolutely perfect in their freshness and 
beauty. 

The population of Japan, as given by the census 
report of January i, 1902, was 45,426,651, exclu- 
sive of Formosa. The annual increase is great, 
as shown by the record. Intelligent Japanese with 
whom I have talked claim that the population is 
now close to fifty millions. This will show a dis- 
tressingly dense population when we consider the 
small extent of territory inhabitable. Only 12^ 
per cent, of the land is tillable, the remainder being 
too rocky or mountainous for farming purposes. 
It seems almost impossible that so small an arable 
area can be made to support so large a population. 
It is no wonder that Japanese economists are 
alarmed at the prospect, and that the government 
is anxious to secure additional territory in which 
to colonize its superfluous people. It is not surpris- 
ing that the young men are leaving home and seek- 
ing admission to other countries, notably the United 
States. The labor conditions of which I shall 
speak later are altogether unpromising. 

I had an interesting talk one day on the subjects 



JAPAN 35 

of population and emigration while in Tokio, 
with a high government official, well informed in 
these matters. I inquired of him how the Japanese 
government felt with regard to the Japanese ex- 
clusion act passed at the last session of Congress. 
He said it was heartily approved by the Japanese 
government, but regarded with great disfavor by 
a majority of the people, as there were so many 
anxious to get to America. He said the govern- 
ment wanted its people to go to Formosa and 
Corea and other nearby places, but he added that 
they nearly all preferred to go to the United States. 
I Inquired the reason for this, stating that it would 
seem that they would prefer countries nearer their 
home and more akin to Japan in climate, customs, 
language, history, and general conditions and char- 
acteristics. He said that many of the more in- 
telligent and enterprising Japanese young men had 
gained considerable information about the United 
States from various sources, largely from relatives 
or friends who had been there, and that they be- 
lieved they could improve financially, intellectually, 
and in other respects more in the United States than 
elsewhere, because the standards of living and citi- 
zenship are higher there than in Japan, and they 
would improve by contact with those above them 
and would be able to share in the general progress 
and prosperity; whereas if they went to Formosa, 
Corea, or Manchuria they would find labor and 
living conditions no better than at home, and people 
in many of the most important respects below 
rather than above themselves, and so they would 



36 TALES OF TRAVEL 

be dragged down to a lower, rather than raised to 
a higher level than they now occupied. Pretty 
good reasoning that, and evidence of a very intelli- 
gent ambition. The same official informed me 
that the efforts to colonize Formosa were not meet- 
ing with much success, but that since the recent 
war the Japanese were settling in Corea in large 
numbers. 

The Japanese are great travelers. You find 
them everywhere, all over the world. There is 
a well-grounded suspicion that most of them are 
traveling for business rather than pleasure — that 
they are largely representatives of their govern- 
ment, and are seeking information that will prove 
valuable to their country, both in peace and war. 
They are alert and keen in all their observations, 
and, being great imitators, can readily adapt to 
practical uses information secured. In Honolulu 
I met and traveled for some days with a most in- 
telligent and charming young Jap, who told 
me he had been traveling continuously for 
more than six years, and he showed me a 
world map upon which he had traced out 
his routes of travel. I had been able to do 
him a great favor, which he much appreciated, and 
so we came to be quite well acquainted and confi- 
dential. He told me that he was traveling in the 
interest of the educational institutions of Japan. I 
asked him if he did not investigate other interests 
than those along educational lines, and he replied, 
with rather a sly smile, that he did make notes 
of whatever he thought might prove of interest or 
advantage to his government and people. 



JAPAN 37 

I do not believe that Japan now entertains hos- 
tile intentions toward any of the world powers. 
She has demonstrated her power and prowess in 
war. Now her commercial ambition is aroused, 
and she seeks to rival along industrial lines, the 
other more progressive and prosperous nations. 
She is wise enough to know that a nation, to be- 
come permanently great and powerful, must culti- 
vate the arts of peace — that only through growth 
and wealth can come strength and safety. Japan 
is poor, and fully realizes it. Her officials are 
anxiously seeking to reduce her expenses and im- 
prove her credit. The occupation of Corea was 
a stern necessity, to secure more territory and in- 
creased soil on which to raise the necessary products 
to feed her people. She fully realizes that she 
needs farmers rather than lighters. The sinews of 
war have their roots in the soil. No country can 
become great that has not the resources to support 
its people. Japan is in extreme financial straits, 
and her credit is much impaired, and pays high 
rates of interest upon her bonds, and is compelled 
to submit to heavy discounts. How differently it 
is with the United States — the very lowest rates 
of interest, and bonds at a premium ! 

I see no way for the present where Japan can 
improve her financial condition by increasing her 
revenues. The limit of taxation seems to have 
been reached, both direct and indirect. Tariff 
duties are enormous and there is a license tax 
covering everything from the jinricksha to the rail- 
road. There is an income tax ranging from 3 



38 TALES OF TRAVEL 

to 30 per cent.; every income over 100 yen 
($50), is taxed. There is also a stamp tax, and 
every ticket, commercial or legal paper of every 
kind must be stamped. Under these conditions 
it seems absurd to suppose that Japan desires any 
further wars. I am sure she does not. I have 
not met an intelligent Japanese who does not laugh 
at the suggestion of a possible war with the United 
States. The ignorant peasants and coolies, ex- 
cited by the yellow journals — and they have them 
there as well as with us, more's the pity — talk 
fight sometimes, but it has no more effect with the 
authorities than do the antics of the hoodlums in 
our country. As a rule the people here seem al- 
together friendly to foreigners, and while their 
pretences may not be wholly genuine, they need 
our trade and money and they know that at present 
they cannot get on without them. No, Japan does 
not want war; she wants peace and progress. But 
she is far behind the great nations in her industrial, 
social and intellectual life, and it will be a long 
time before she gets fully abreast of them. 



CHAPTER VI 

THE JAPANESE PEOPLE— HOW THEY LOOK, LIVE AND 
LABOR— TRICKERY IN TRADE— POVERTY AND 
WORK. 

I AM at a loss to give any really adequate descrip- 
tion of the looks, the dress, the habits and general 
characteristics of the Japanese people. They are 
in most respects conspicuously unlike the people of 
any other nation; in stature and features they re- 
semble the Chinese, but in dress, habits, modes of 
living and trend of thought they are essentially 
different. 

Nobody knows where the Japanese came from, 
or when. The darkness of antiquity hides the 
history of their origin. Historians claim to trace 
them back to several hundred years before the 
Christian era, but their beginning they never pre- 
tend to have found. But this we do know, that 
it is only within the last half century that they 
have made any notable progress toward the higher 
civilization. For more than a thousand years, 
of which we have a fairly reliable record, they lived 
shut in from the world, working out their own 
destinies, a law unto themselves and refusing all 
intercourse with the other nations of the globe. 

In early days the people were divided into four 
classes, the soldiers, called the "fighting men" or 
Samurai ; the peasants, the artisans, and the trades- 
people. The latter were evidently put at the 



40 TALES OF TRAVEL 

lowest rank on account of their universal trickery, 
deception and general dishonesty. That they were 
correctly placed in the scale of mankind is evident 
from their characters and practices. It is the 
unanimous report of all who have dealings with 
them that they are tricksters — old and young, men 
and women, boys and girls, and the truth is not in 
them. But they are so adroit, resourceful, winsome, 
and even picturesque in their deception that they 
compel admiration and secure trade despite the 
knowledge of their falsehood and trickery. It is this 
trait that has lowered them in the esteem of their 
own countrymen and been the principal reason that 
European and American merchants have shown so 
much hesitancy in entering into or extending their 
Japanese trade. Of course there are exceptions. 
There are a few shops where prices are fixed and 
fair. But as a rule some knowledge of values and 
much dickering is necessary to prevent paying 
greatly excessive prices. 

Shoppers — and all travelers become shoppers — 
when they get to Japan, should go very slowly in 
making purchases if they would avoid paying ex- 
tortionate prices. The Japanese shopkeepers take 
very little account of time. They never show any 
hurry to close a bargain, but will stick to their 
prices and refuse lower offers day after day. When 
they think there is danger of losing a trade, they 
will almost invariably make very substantial re- 
ductions. Another peculiar way they have of do- 
ing business is to conceal instead of displaying their 
most beautiful articles. At almost any of the 



JAPAN 41 

shops it is the poorer and cheaper goods that are 
in sight. It is only when they see that the customer 
really wants to buy, and evidently knows something 
of the merits and values of the articles he seeks, 
that they bring out their best goods. 

The average Japanese shop, especially those 
mainly devoted to the sale of art works and curios, 
etc., is a small, cheap and queer establishment. It 
may contain many articles of great value, one of 
which is worth more than the entire building, but 
they are not visible. They are boxed and bundled 
and packed away entirely out of sight. If inquiry 
is made by the shopper for certain articles, the 
crafty tradesman will produce them from some 
hidden place, but apparently with the greatest in- 
difference as to whether he sells or even shows 
them. These wily Japs are keen and cunning 
traders, and the shopper that they cannot deceive 
is a rare exception. 

Parental and filial love, domestic duty, reverence 
for ancestry and loyalty to country, practically con- 
stitute the religion of Japan. Though children in 
families may seem most alarmingly numerous, yet 
newcomers are welcomed with the greatest delight. 
No labor is too hard, no poverty too pinching, and 
no sacrifices too great, to dampen the love of Japan- 
ese parents for their children. The children, too, 
in youth and later life love, obey, serve, and care 
for their parents while they live, and revere and 
worship them after death. In cases where parents 
have lost their children, or children their parents, 
if in need they are cared for by relatives or neigh- 



42 TALES OF TRAVEL 

bors. Thus it is that there are few public paupers 
in Japan. But the poverty is universal and most 
distressing. It is everywhere, in city, in village, 
in country. 

Wherever we have traveled — and the remote 
districts where it is said the worst conditions exist 
we have not visited — we found the same deplor- 
able state of things, the dwelling, the dress, the aw- 
ful labor showing the greatest poverty. There is 
no leisure class, barring the priests about the tem- 
ples. Men and women, boys and girls, even the 
little children are at work. As a rule the smaller 
children, say from five to eight years of age, care 
for the babies and those younger than themselves. 
The village and city streets are crowded with chil- 
dren carrying infants a few days old, and babies up 
to two or three years on their backs. All babies 
are carried strapped to the back. Often children 
of five to seven will be seen carrying others half 
their own age, and bending and struggling under 
the cruel load. Old men and women, bent and 
wrinkled and tottering, too old and infirm for other 
labor, carry the babies while their mothers are at 
work. 

There is no distinction of sex here as to out- 
door work, the women and girls working alongside 
the men and boys in the shops, in the streets and in 
the fields. And much of the work is of the most 
arduous and beastly kind. The farming, for in- 
stance, is practically all done in the hardest possible 
manner. No horses, mules or oxen, with rare 
exceptions, are used; everything is done by hand, 
the ground not being plowed but dug up with rude 



JAPAN 43 

shovels and hoes. All farming utensils are awk- 
ward, bungling affairs. The grain is cut with 
knives, gathered by hand and carried to stacks on 
the back; all vegetables are transported to market 
in great baskets or bundles carried on the back or 
head. Even firewood is transported in the same 
way, and stones for building purposes are often car- 
ried from the quarries long distances to the towns 
on the back. Sometimes two wheeled handcarts 
are used, to which men and women and boys and 
girls are hitched, the women often having babies 
on their backs as they tug along the rocky roads 
and up the steep hills. For nearly all heavy haul- 
ing in both country and city men and women are 
employed instead of animals. Are they not "beasts 
of burden" sure enough? 

In some sections, however, bulls, hitched up 
singly, are used to draw heavy loads. There is a 
copper mine up in the mountains a few miles above 
Nikko, where I have seen long lines of carts, fifty 
and more, drawn by bulls, hauling supplies up to 
the mines and bars of copper down to the railroad 
stations. In the rice fields — and rice growing is 
one of the principal industries of Japan — the 
women work the same as the men, in mud and 
water up to their knees, and deeper. It is a hard 
enough sight to see strong men undergo killing toil, 
but to see women and children in the desperate 
struggle is pitiful indeed. And to know that 
wages are so low and the products from the soil so 
meager as to yield only the meanest existence, 
would seem to us, born to better things, to make 
the conditions almost intolerable. 



CHAPTER VII 

JAPAN CONTINUED — DOMESTIC LOVE — LACK OF 
HOME COMFORTS— DRESS— LOYALTY— RELIGION- 
POVERTY. 

But there is another side to the picture of 
Japanese low life. These poor people are doing 
in the same manner, and largely with the same 
tools and facilities, what their ancestors did for 
twenty centuries. They are used to it ; born to it ; 
they know no better way or easier living; and so 
they seem fairly contented and happy. As I have 
said, some of the young men seek other countries 
that offer brighter fields for labor and advance- 
ment, but the great majority plod on in the old 
cruel and hopeless way with no thought of better 
things. Their industry, frugality, and patience 
are forced upon them by environment, but their 
cheerfulness, good-nature, and courtesy are volun- 
tary virtues, and cannot be too highly commended. 
Their love of one another is a most charming 
feature in their barren lives. It is seen every- 
where, especially in the devotion shown to the 
young children and to the aged. Even the chil- 
dren here are uniformly kind to one another. I 
have seen thousands of them — for they are like the 
"sands of the sea shore, without number" — in city, 
village and country, and I have not seen a quarrel 
and rarely heard a cry. They play together, the 
older ones always helping those younger, and ap- 



JAPAN 45 

parently always in harmony. How different from 
the scenes witnessed in the poor and crowded sec- 
tions of an American or English city, where you 
cannot go a block without hearing disputes and 
seeing quarrels. The men and women, too, are 
amiable and considerate, showing the same polite- 
ness and courtesy to one another that they show 
uniformly to strangers. 

The Japanese people, high or low, rich or poor, 
have no real home life as we understand it. Of 
the "comforts of home" they know little — they 
stay, they do not live. They camp simply, with 
houses instead of tents to cover them, the houses 
being absolutely without furniture — not a chair, 
table, bedstead, lounge, bureau, cooking stove, fur- 
nace or any of the domestic appurtenances to which 
we are accustomed. They sit on the floor, eat on 
the floor, sleep on the floor, which is covered with 
a soft matting. The houses as a rule are exceed- 
ingly small, one story high, with thatched roof, 
built of thin lumber and divided into small rooms 
by wooden partitions. There are few cellars, stone 
or brick walls, and no plaster. Sliding doors only 
are used. The cooking, what little there is of it, is 
done over charcoal fires in small kettles or pots of 
various devices. The heating is done in open pots 
in which coals are placed. The bedding consists of 
a heavy comforter, called a "futon," laid upon 
the floor, and blankets for covering. These are 
stowed away when not in use. Meals are taken 
from low stands, the diners being seated upon the 
floor. This is the way they live. The poorer 



46 TALES OF TRAVEL 

classes, embracing ninety-five per cent, of the entire 
population, are up at daylight in the morning, and 
work until dark and often later, — eat, sleep and 
work constitutes the sum of all their days. There 
is no Sunday, for the most of them work and slave 
regularly on seven days in the week, except that 
the schools and public offices are closed. There are 
a good many so-called religious festivals, but little 
heed is paid to them by the people generally. 

On landing in Japan the American or European 
is first attracted by the dress — and I might prop- 
erly say in many cases by the absence of dress — of 
these queer people. I cannot go into this subject 
in much detail. There are two general styles of 
dress worn respectively by the upper classes, arti- 
sans, tradespeople, etc., and by the peasant class. 
The former vary greatly in the qualities of the ma- 
terial used, but not in the style of garments worn. 
All peasants dress substantially the same, the style 
and quality being extremely scanty, and poor. The 
men's dress, other than peasants, consists of a loin 
cloth, shirt and gown with sash (kimono). In 
winter an under jacket and two gowns are worn. 
The head is usually uncovered, while on the feet, 
if not bare, are short socks, straw sandals, or 
wooden clogs. In many places, especially in the 
villages and country districts, the coolies in hot 
weather wear only a loin cloth, and many children 
are seen in a state of nature. 

Among the peasant class men and women dress 
substantially alike, and it is difficult for the for- 
eigner to discriminate between the sexes. The 



JAPAN 47 

dress consists of a blouse and tight-fitting trousers 
and straw sandals or clogs, if there is any footwear 
at all. The head is covered with a handkerchief; 
in winter and rainy weather a straw cape is worn. 
The Japanese costume, aside from that worn by 
peasants, is most attractive and altogether sanitary. 
There is no prettier picture than a Japanese girl in 
her native dress. And most of them are so gentle, 
tactful, polite, picturesque, and sweet-voiced, as to 
be really bewitching. Matrons in their sober col- 
ors and greater dignity are graceful, courteous and 
charming in the attractiveness of their dress and 
the refinement of their manners. The Japanese 
people are universally courteous and polite, but 
there is an air of dignity and self-respect about 
them which precludes any suggestion of servility. 
While, as I have said, the great majority are dis- 
tressingly poor, and many of them ignorant and 
superstitious, yet they are temperate, patient, con- 
tent. They have little, but make the most of what 
they have. In temperament highly artistic, they 
love nature and foster art. Their poverty is not 
squalid; their habits are cleanly. Their houses 
and shops, no matter how small, cheap, and barren 
they may be, are clean, and none so poor that it 
does not contain a growing shrub or flower. They 
have, wherever possible, gardens, large or small, 
but always well tended and tasty. They preserve 
the trees and train them to grow in all sorts of ar- 
tistic and fantastic shapes. They adorn the stumps 
and rocks and fringe the streams with flowers and 
vines and shrubs. They love art, especially in 



48 TALES OF TRAVEL 

small things, and their prints and pictures and em- 
broideries, their work in wood, gold, silver, brass, 
and bronze, is admired everywhere. 

I have written mainly of the lower classes, as 
they constitute so large a majority and are little 
known. In the upper classes we find men of 
wealth, enterprise, and distinction, who rank well 
up with the prominent men of other nations. They 
are in the march of progress, as scholars, states- 
men, soldiers, and sailors, diplomats, financiers. 

There is this most conspicuous trait in all Jap- 
anese of whatever class — their great loyalty to 
their country and its rulers. There are no persons 
or parties in Japan that are "agin the government." 
I am told on the highest Japanese authority that 
in the home and the school children from their in- 
fancy are taught love of country and reverence for 
rulers with as much zeal and persistency as Ro- 
man Catholics teach their children to revere and 
serve the Catholic Church. Loyalty, if not born 
in the Japanese children, is bred in them from their 
earliest years. They are taught that their duty 
to their country is more sacred and binding than 
their duty to kindred. These teachings, like all 
the lessons of youth, shape the opinions and actions 
of adult life. Hence, the Japanese people delight 
to live, and are always willing to die, for the good 
of their country. 

I may sum up what I have written concerning 
the looks, customs, modes of living and general 
conditions and characteristics of this people by 
saying that the upper classes are well-to-do, intelli- 



JAPAN 49 

gent, educated, enterprising and ambitious. They 
are dignified, courteous, reticent, and secretive. 
The lower classes are poor but industrious, temper- 
ate, amiable and apparently contented and happy. 
Poverty in most countries is painful and repellant; 
here it is almost attractive, and actually pictur- 
esque. 

As to the real religious sentiments of the Jap- 
anese people it is impossible for the foreigner to 
gain any satisfactory insight. Volumes of specula- 
tions have been written about the subject, filled 
with conjecture and all sorts of fantastic, far- 
fetched, and frequently absurd imaginings; but 
nobody seems to have succeeded in penetrating and 
revealing the real religious beliefs, convictions, 
hopes, or fears that dominate or distract the Jap- 
anese mind. The evidence of their reverence and 
worship is on every hand — temples, shrines, idols, 
fill all the land. On the mountains and in the val- 
leys ; along country roads and beside forest paths ; 
in private houses and gardens; around the lakes 
and along the shores of rivers — wherever you turn 
you find images and shrines. But they are all old, 
they show the stains and wear and tear of the cen- 
turies. There are no young gods, no fresh idols, 
no new temples. They are the creations of ages 
long gone by. Many temples are closed, nearly 
all are in poor repair, — shrines deserted and idols 
broken. What this means I cannot tell. There 
are no evidences that the people have been con- 
verted from paganism. They still worship, make 
pilgrimages, celebrate festivals, give offerings, but 



So TALES OF TRAVEL 

their worship is formal, their pilgrimages mere pic- 
nics, and their religious processions often motley, 
noisy, and grotesque parades. 

Since the establishment of the empire as it now 
exists under the rule of the Mikado, there has been 
a new order of things in society, and there are now 
but three classes : the nobility, including the im- 
perial court and men of high birth and degree; 
the gentry, men of property qualified to vote and 
take part in the government; and the common 
people, meaning the tradespeople and the peasant 
and coolie classes. The farming population is 
known as the peasantry, and the coolies are the 
common laborers. The nobility and gentry com- 
bined comprise only five per cent, of the popula- 
tion ; the coolies, peasants, and tradespeople ninety- 
five per cent. These figures are suggestive and 
startling. They mean that out of the 50,000,000 
people in Japan 47,500,000 are extremely poor, 
and there are few ways open to them to improve 
their condition. In our country the poor, if they 
are industrious, temperate, and frugal, may be- 
come well-to-do and often rich. Not so here. 
Wages are so low, all pursuits so crowded, the 
tillable land so occupied, that all the poor can do is 
to struggle along in their poverty, gaining a bare 
existence. It is this terrible fact that alarms the 
economist when he considers the future of Japan. 

When I speak of poverty I do not mean pauper- 
ism. There are few paupers here, no poorhouses 
and homes for children and the aged, or similar 



JAPAN 51 

charitable institutions, as in our country. The most 
admirable trait in Japanese character is the love 
of kindred. Family ties are the closest, the ten- 
derest, and the most sacred. 



CHAPTER VIII 



JAPANESE ART— ITS GENIUS AND BEAUTY— HOW IT 
SUFFERS. 



The art of Japan charms me. It may not be 
great and wonderful, like the paintings, sculpture, 
and architecture of the old masters of Italy and 
Greece — the best writers on art say it is not — but 
it is beautiful, bewitching, delicious. My enthu- 
siasm swells and my letter of credit shrinks as I 
come in contact with it. It smiles at you from 
every shop, garden, or house, be it hut or palace. 
You see it in the trimming and planting of the 
shrubs, the color and arrangement of the flowers, 
in the artificial ponds and rivulets and waterfalls : 
along the highways, beside winding and wooded 
paths, in the smooth valleys and on the rough 
mountain sides and peaks, you are constantly sur- 
prised by artistic delights. 

Japanese art is delicate, but it has a directness, 
facility and strength about it that gives a charm 
to the roughest sketch. Even the outlines of the 
artist's work are attractive. The Japanese artist 
is more of a poet than a photographer. He is 
really an idealist, and portrays with equal interest 
and skill the beautiful and the grotesque. 

The genius of art that inspires the beautiful 
creations in wood and stone, in gold and silver, in 
bronze and porcelain and iron; that builds temples 



JAPAN 53 

and paints pictures and molds statues; fosters and 
fashions the growth of nature into artistic forms. 
Art pervades and dominates and beautifies all Jap- 
anese life. The hut oJ the peasant as well as 
the palace of the prince reveals the artistic in- 
stinct. The little doll of the child and the great 
dragon of the temple, one beautiful, the other hid- 
eous, are both artistic. I wonder (I have never 
heard or read such a suggestion) if the general 
amiability and good-nature evident among the 
people, the fondness for children, the filial and 
parental love, the reverence for age and ancestry, 
are in any degree promoted or heightened by the 
artistic atmosphere that surrounds the home and 
people? Who knows? 

I am not able to analyze Japanese art, or to de- 
scribe in detail any of its marvelous and fascinating 
productions. My wife said in a letter to a friend, 
and it struck me as an exceedingly truthful and 
happy expression, that in this country "everything 
is in miniature; beautiful but not grand; attractive 
and fascinating, but not prodigious and impres- 
sive." It has been well said by a great writer, 
"Japan is great in small things." 

The Japanese artist seems to be lacking in the 
faculty for making grand combinations. He con- 
fines himself to the small and pretty. For dec- 
orative purposes Japanese art charms the world. 
It shows itself in the growth and training of 
shrubs and trees and flowers, in the laying out and 
tending of gardens, in shaping the courses of 
streams, as well as in the decoration of houses and 



54 TALES OF TRAVEL 

palaces and temples. And almost every article, 
simple or luxurious, whether for practical use or 
merely display, is designed and decorated with the 
most pleasing and artistic effect. The dishes from 
which they eat, the costumes worn, the utensils 
employed, the bric-a-brac displayed, everything 
from the boy's kite to the girl's obi; from the 
cheapest cup to the richest vase; from the flimsy 
blouse of the coolie to the most luxurious wrap- 
pings of the prince ; from the little toy of the baby 
to the colossal statues that guard the entrances to 
the temples — are all decorated with designs reveal- 
ing the universal genius of Japanese art. 

Much as I admire the genius and skill that con- 
ceive and design the enchanting works of Japanese 
art, yet I am more impressed by the infinite toil 
and patience of the artisans who so admirably paint 
and carve, enamel and engrave, upon wood and 
stone and metal the ideas of the artist. The strain 
upon the eye and nerve and muscle is painful and 
never-ending; months and years are often required 
to engrave or enamel a single piece; even the 
poorer grades of work require much time, skill and 
labor. Expensive as many of the articles are, they 
seem strangely cheap when the amount of labor 
and skill expended upon them is considered. Only 
where the artistic temperament prevails and the 
wages of labor are the most meager would it be 
possible to find such works of art as are common 
In Japan. We Westerners wonder at the profuse 
and entrancing display of these objects of art. 



JAPAN 55 

How and when and by whom could they have been 
designed and made? 

But we must remember that it has been but a 
few years since Japan was a closed empire having 
no relation with the outside world, no trade, no 
market, no income outside its own borders and 
people. Genius must find some expression, labor 
have some sort of employment. Art furnished 
both. Time was of little value, and so the people 
devoted themselves to the creation of artistic pro- 
ductions. This is why old articles are so much 
more expensive than new ones. It is not a fad or 
a sentiment alone that fixes value ; the older articles, 
possibly of the same designs and materials, were 
more valuable because more time was expended 
on them and they are much more beautiful in work- 
manship. 

But time and things in Japan have changed and 
are now rapidly changing. New avenues of indus- 
try are opening. Steam and electricity are forcing 
new enterprise. Commerce and manufacturing 
are arousing the government and people to new 
ambitions ; labor is demanding better reward. The 
ideal is giving way to the practical. And art suf- 
fers. Remuneration has become more important 
than perfection. Works of art are valued for their 
quantity rather than for their quality. The artist, 
the artisan, the dealer, all are seeking to increase 
their sales rather than to improve their work. That 
the art of Japan is on the wane is beyond dispute. 



CHAPTER IX 

AGRICULTURE— HOW CARRIED ON— THE PRO- 
DUCTS—PRICES OF LABOR AND LIVING. 

The agricultural resources of Japan are ex- 
tremely limited. It would seem impossible to sup- 
port so large a population from so small an area 
of productive soil. Her entire territory is small, 
and as I have said heretofore only twelve and one- 
half per cent, of it is suitable for cultivation. But 
such portion of the land as is tilled is under a most 
perfect state of cultivation; not a foot is allowed 
to go to waste, not a weed is permitted to live 
among the growing crops. The soil is enriched to 
the limit of fertilization and perfect irrigation pro- 
vided wherever needed. 

The staple cereals produced are rice, barley, 
wheat, millet, and beans. Rice is the principal 
crop, more than equal to all the others. There is 
but little wheat, as the people rarely eat bread. 
Barley and millet are largely used by the poorer 
classes, who cannot afford rice. The trade reports 
of Japan show a strange condition, both the ex- 
porting and importing of large quantities of rice. 
This is the explanation : The rice grown here is of 
an excellent quality and brings high prices in other 
countries. Hence much of it is shipped out, and 
the poorer, cheaper article purchased and shipped 
in. Rather a sad commentary on the condition 



JAPAN 57 

of the people — too poor to eat the rice they grow. 
The cultivation of rice is laborious. The ground 
is dug up with great hoes, and most of the work 
is done in the mud and water knee deep and over, 
in which men, women, and children wallow and 
work together. The farmer has no labor-saving 
machinery. Some of the tools used are as old as 
the empire. The cutting and threshing is done in 
the crudest and most laborious manner. The grain 
is cut with clumsy knives and sickles, and threshed 
out with rude flails or trod out in stamping troughs, 
while the grinding is as slow as the cutting and 
threshing, sometimes in mortars or pounded out 
in rude mills. 

The variety of vegetables and fruits is much 
smaller than in our country, and the quality is gen- 
erally poorer. There is little poultry or live stock. 
Chickens are plenty, but ducks, geese, and turkeys 
scarce. There are no sheep, goats, or hogs. Cattle 
are scarce, as neither milk, butter nor beef is used 
to any extent by the natives. There is no grazing 
land and all stock is kept stabled. I have not seen 
a pasture, or an animal grazing in all Japan. 
There are comparatively few horses, and no fine 
ones, all being small, scrubby, poor and vicious. I 
did not see a respectable team in all my travels 
there. Even in Tokio, the home of royalty, the 
imperial carriages are drawn by inferior, ill-mated 
teams, and the drivers of the royal equippages seem 
to know less than the stupid and awkward animals 
they vainly try to manage. 

There are no large landed proprietors, for as a 



58 TALES OF TRAVEL 

rule the peasants own the small patches of land 
that they till. Quite a large amount of tea is 
raised. It is one of the leading articles of export. 
It is drunk universally by the Japanese, and is stim- 
ulating and delicious. Tea houses are found every- 
where. There is much cultivation of the lacquer 
tree, and many people are employed in the gather- 
ing of the sap and in the manufacture of lacquered 
articles. It is interesting to know that, contrary 
to the usual process of nature, lacquer, when in a 
liquid state, will harden much more quickly in a 
room that is dark and damp than in one that is 
light and dry. Considerable camphor is produced 
in Japan. Some of the camphor trees grow to a 
prodigious size, and are worshiped by many of 
the people. 

I have spoken of the poverty of the people and 
the low wages of labor. Of course prices vary 
here as in other countries, and it is only possible to 
give approximate figures. From all that I have 
been able to learn, and I have investigated thor- 
oughly, I find that for a common laborer the aver- 
age price paid is about 60 sen, or 30 cents per day, 
of our money; mechanics and ordinary artisans 
get about 50 cents per day. A gentleman from 
Yokohama managing a company employing 1,200 
people, old and young, told me he paid from 15 to 
35 cents, and that he paid his foreman $30 per 
month. The stone and brick masons of Yoko- 
hama, who had been receiving 50 cents per day, 
struck while I was there for 60 cents. After they 
had been idle for some time they compromised on 



JAPAN 59 

55 cents. The wages in the cities, especially in the 
seaport towns, are higher than in the villages and 
country districts. Male school teachers receive 
$100 per year, and female $80. Many rickashaw 
men — and their labor is exceedingly arduous — 
have told me they are satisfied when they can earn 
50 cents per day. 

Notwithstanding these wretchedly low prices, 
Mr. Chamberlain, the writer whose works on Ja- 
pan are recognized as the highest authority, tells 
me that the wages of labor and the cost of living 
have trebled within the last few years. To use his 
own words: "House rent has trebled during the 
last thirty years; the average price of labor has 
trebled; hotel charges have trebled; jinricksha 
hire has quadrupled, and it costs three times as 
much now to build a house as it did then." It will 
interest the ladies to know that the wages of maid 
servants, formerly 50 to 75 cents per month, have 
now gone up to the alarming figures of $1.50 to 
$2.50 monthly. These figures will furnish fruit- 
ful study to the student of economics. What ad- 
vancement can be expected from people thus poorly 
paid? Is their elevation in the scale of citizen- 
ship and civilization possible? Or, in view of the 
fact that they are robust and happy is it desirable? 
This is a problem that it will take centuries to solve. 



CHAPTER X 



MONEY— MUSIC— SOCIETY— HOTELS— MARRIAGES- 
PROGRESS. 



The money of Japan is easily understood. It is 
on a gold basis. The money used is mainly silver, 
nickel, and copper. A yen is half a dollar, a sen 
half a cent in our money, so there is no trouble to 
figure it. Paper money of various denominations 
is issued, all in yen. 

There is no music in Japan except that made by 
the birds, the wind, the running streams, and the 
roaring waterfalls. The people have no music in 
them — they do not sing or even whistle, or play 
any musical instrument worthy of the name. They 
are not moved by "the concord of sweet sounds." 
They have a few rude instruments, but the sounds 
they give forth are harsh, inharmonious, and alto- 
gether unmusical. There was a dinner band at the 
Grand Hotel, Yokohama, and there was a brass 
band at the Imperial garden party, the only bands 
I heard in all Japan. Even at the geisha dances, 
the most popular in Japan, the music is primitive 
and discordant. And the dances are worse than 
the music. It is not in any sense dancing as we 
know it, it is simply a series of posturings, accom- 
panied by the flirting of fans, flags, or handker- 
chiefs, but lacking the motion and inspiration that 
thrills and fascinates in the merry mazes of the 



JAPAN 6 1 

cotillon and the waltz. The religious dances are 
slow, dignified and impressive, but have none of 
the life and intoxication that gives interest and 
charm to the participant or beholder. 

The people are extremely temperate; intoxica- 
tion is rare. They have a moderately strong drink 
called "saki," and also drink, to some extent, native 
beer of a good quality. 

There is little "society" in Japan, as we know it. 
Society is almost purely official. Many notable en- 
tertainments are given, but they are all of an of- 
ficial character and they are paid for from a public 
fund. The system of calls, teas, receptions, balls, 
and the like is unknown. The men have clubs and 
associations of various kinds, and give many din- 
ners, but women are not present. In the higher 
classes the whole theory of the relations of the 
sexes precludes their mingling in general social in- 
tercourse. Women are regarded as inferior to 
men, and are thus rendered ineligible to social 
leadership. The wife is treated more as a servant 
than as a companion and equal of her husband, 
and she is expected to remain at home caring for 
the household and ministering to the wants of her 
husband and master. She does not even eat with 
her husband, but waits until he is through. In the 
street she does not walk beside him, but follows 
meekly a few steps in the rear. In riding, her hus- 
band always takes the lead. Everywhere and in 
everything the man takes precedence over the wo- 
man. The courtesy and gallantry shown by gentle- 
men to ladies in our country are not in evidence 



62 TALES OF TRAVEL 

here. Men are born and bred to command and 
women to serve; therefore society, as we know it, 
is impossible in Japan. 

The hotels of Japan, that is, those catering to 
the tourist trade, are only fair, but not first class 
in any respect, as compared with the hotels in the 
United States and Europe. They have two most 
commendable features — they are usually clean and 
the service excellent. The variety of food served 
is not extensive, and is frequently not selected or 
cooked to suit the guests, but they do fairly well. 
Rates, while not exorbitant, are high for what is 
given. I have paid, for comfortable accommoda- 
tions for two, from $7.50 to $12.50 per day. The 
average rate at the best hotels is about $9 a day for 
two persons occupying the same apartment, with a 
discount of 10 per cent, when stopping two weeks 
or longer. One person occupying the same rooms 
would pay about $5 to $6 per day. Toilet and 
bath accommodations are not as a rule connected 
with private rooms, but they are always convenient 
and most excellent. Of course there are many 
much cheaper hotels, and some of them are re- 
ported to be comfortable. There are three classes 
of hotels: those catering only to foreign guests, 
those catering to both foreign and natives, and 
those for natives only. Foreigners traveling 
where there are only native hotels find it necessary 
to carry some articles of bedding as well as canned 
foods. 

There are a good many railroads in Japan, but 
they are greatly inferior both in construction and 



JAPAN 63 

equipment to American railroads. They are all 
narrow gauge, and so of necessity the cars are 
small, and, while not altogether uncomfortable, 
are in no sense luxurious. All classes of trains are 
run at much lower speed than in our country. 
Rates of fare, first class, are lower than with us, 
and second and third class rates extremely low. 

Marriage ties bind very loosely in Japan. Di- 
vorces are numerous and easily obtained. The 
marriage contracts are not personal but family af- 
fairs. They are legal while they last, but can be 
easily terminated. Marriage contracts are usually 
made by some friend of the families concerned. 
The girls have nothing whatever to say about it. 
In Japan girls are not expected to have any opin- 
ions. The ceremonies and rites performed in con- 
nection with marriages among the higher classes 
are not recognized, and find scanty observance, 
among the lower classes. There marriage is simply 
a matter of whim and convenience. The men, 
being the masters, marry about when they will and 
whom they will. This state of affairs cannot be 
conducive to morality or general happiness. I do 
not believe Japan will ever take a front rank 
among the nations of the world until there is a 
great change in her social life. The women are 
naturally intelligent, kind, gentle, and faithful. 
They should not be regarded as inferiors and ser- 
vants, but as equals and companions. Until the 
women of Japan are given a status to which their 
merits rightly entitle them, that empire will not 
become an essential factor in the world's progress 



64 TALES OF TRAVEL 

toward enlightenment, purification and better 
things. 

Notwithstanding the great fondness of Japanese 
mothers for their children, they never kiss them. 
The bow is the only salutation. Hand-shaking is 
very rare. Kissing, as stated by Mr. Chamberlain, 
is regarded as utterly immodest and revolting. 

Japan is making considerable progress in its 
commerce, manufactures, and internal improve- 
ments generally. The government is giving aid 
by bonus or loan to many new enterprises. The 
evidences of an awakening commercial spirit are 
numerous in the leading cities. It is the hope of 
the rulers, by emulating the arts and civilization 
of other leading countries, to make the empire 
more self-reliant. This is the ambition of the Jap- 
anese government. But the masses of the people, 
struggling with poverty and filled with superstition 
and reverence for ancestry, cling to the old and 
are slow to adopt new ideas and methods. Time 
will no doubt bring great changes, and I can but 
wish speed to the good work. 



CHAPTER XI 

FOREIGN MISSIONS— IMPRESSIONS— THE CHARMS OF 
JAPAN. 

What I know about the work of foreign mis- 
sions in Japan I have gained from residents there, 
foreign and native, from travelers who have made 
a point of investigating them, and from some per- 
sonal observations. 

It is the almost unanimous consensus of impar- 
tial opinion, as I have heard it expressed, that the 
influence of foreign missions, so far as their relig- 
ious features are concerned, is trivial and wholly 
insignificant. The fact is, the Japanese are not a 
religiously inclined people. They know and feel 
little or nothing of what we call "spiritual life." 
They are sensualists and fatalists. They do not 
even observe with any fervor or seriousness their 
own paganish rites. Their so-called "religious pil- 
grimages" are simply outings, or picnics, with no 
semblance of devoutness or decorum, but wholly 
given over to relaxation and hilarity. Their great- 
est religious feasts and celebrations attract but 
meager attention from the people at large, and are, 
as a rule, simply noisy, rollicking, grotesque dis- 
plays by those who participate. 

The Japanese are conspicuously a peculiar 
people. Not only in their customs and modes of 
living, but in the operation of their minds they are 
at absolute and irrevocable variance with the 



66 TALES OF TRAVEL 

thoughts and logic that dominate and direct the 
minds and actions of the people in what we call the 
civilized and Christian world. They are lax in 
morals as well as oblivious to any religious obliga- 
tions or rewards. They have no fear of death, 
and no apparent concern as to a future life. They 
revere and worship their ancestry and love and are 
loyal to kindred and country. This is largely their 
religion. They have images and idols and gods 
that they worship and ask favors of in this life, but 
they do not seem to know or care whether they 
kneel at a Shinto or a Buddhist shrine. As to re- 
pentance and reform and faith, the regeneration 
of character and the uprightness of living, to the 
end that good may come in this life and happiness 
in the next, that is something outside their thought 
and beyond their comprehension. The orthodox 
teachings of regeneration and redemption do not 
appeal to their pagan minds, and if they profess 
to understand them and believe, it is only a pretext 
made for a purpose. 

The barriers that exist between the American, 
European and Japanese races are insurmountable. 
They are as fixed as the oceans and the mountains 
that divide continents and countries. They may 
be traversed and explored, but they cannot be re- 
moved. The plan of creation established them. 
The Japanese mind can no more comprehend the 
teachings of Christianity than we can remove the 
darkness and reticence and mystery that surrounds 
and veils and controls Oriental life. We can no 
more change the minds and trend of thought of 



JAPAN 67 

these people than we can change the color of their 
skin. As well might the Mohammedan, the 
Hindu, the Buddhist, attempt to convert to his 
faith the Christian. It cannot be done. The laws 
of mind are as unchangeable as the laws of 
matter. This is why foreign missions, so far as 
their strictly religious efforts are concerned, have 
not accomplished what their friends and supporters 
have hoped from them. 

While for the reasons given above I am of the 
opinion that the work of foreign missions in Ja- 
pan, so far as its religious aspect is concerned, has 
been and always will be a failure, yet I am equally 
convinced, from what I have seen and heard, that 
in many directions foreign missions in Japan and 
elsewhere have accomplished, and I have no doubt 
will continue to accomplish, much good. 

The people of Japan and the Far East are a 
wonderfully bright people. They are not the 
"poor ignorant heathen" that many people believe 
them to be. They are keen, shrewd, and alert. 
They are not versed in the ways of civilization and 
society, but they are crafty, observant, and reticent, 
suspicious of foreigners, and extremely secretive as 
to their inner lives. They may be ever so kind and 
courteous, as they universally are, but there is al- 
ways an element of reserve and mystery about 
them. Those who take their silence for stupidity 
and their timidity for ignorance, make a great mis- 
take. They are not frank or demonstrative, but 
they are cautious and exceedingly clever. I believe 
the common classes in Japan are naturally 



68 TALES OF TRAVEL 

brighter than the corresponding classes in our 
country or Europe. They lack in education and in 
the refinements of life such as we enjoy, but they 
are industrious, frugal, temperate, and many 
among them extremely ambitious. They are very 
anxious to learn, especially along educational and 
industrial lines. They want to know what is going 
on in the world, and to learn how to do what is 
being done by the people in the countries more ad- 
vanced than their own. 

This is why foreign missions have met gener- 
ally with a warm reception in Japan. It is not that 
the people are seeking religious truth — they are in 
search of material benefits. They want to learn 
the English language, so that they may get more 
employment and better wages, and so they are 
glad to attend the mission schools. Until our gov- 
ernment passed the Japanese exclusion act, many 
of the young men attended mission schools so as to 
learn a little of our language and then seek our 
country, where plenty of work and higher wages 
than they could ever hope to get at home could be 
readily obtained. Many attend the mission schools 
to get instruction along industrial and other lines 
and thus improve their condition. 

In these directions the foreign missions have met 
with creditable success. They have taught many 
useful things. They have shown the benefits of 
proper sanitation, of better care of the health, of 
good medical treatment, as well as introducing new 
industries and improved tools and implements and 
devices into the Land of the Cherry Blossom. All 



JAPAN 69 

these things have interested the enterprising Jap 
and rendered the mission school popular. They 
have submitted to the religious exercises and pro- 
fessed a belief in them in order to get the other 
benefits they sought. That is all. I have been 
told by many residents in Japan — in fact every- 
body I talked with expressed the same opinion — 
that the claims of the missionary as to the "conver- 
sion of the Japanese to Christianity" is all a delu- 
sion. They profess to be converted, but it is only 
a pretence in order to gain instruction and the good 
will of their teachers. When their schooling is 
over, their religion vanishes. This is what those 
who come in contact with them uniformly assert. 

As to foreign missions in general, I wish to state 
that it is my opinion that it is unfortunate that 
many of the persons, both men and women, sent 
out as missionaries are so notoriously unfitted for 
the work assigned them. These may properly be 
divided into three classes. 

First there are the weak, simple, sentimental 
souls, lacking in experience, having no sound judg- 
ment in practical affairs, honest and good, but with 
"more zeal than discretion," who think their 
creeds embrace all there is of truth, and who feel 
that it is a privilege as well as a duty to go out 
among the "poor heathen" and show them how 
wrong and wicked they are, how they will surely 
incur everlasting punishment if they do not de- 
stroy their idols, abjure the religion of their an- 
cestors, and believe in the new doctrines preached 
to them. This class, sincere and zealous as they 



7o TALES OF TRAVEL 

are, gain little respect, often excite hostility, and 
bring failure and reproach upon the cause they are 
too weak, narrow-minded, and bigoted to properly 
represent. 

Another class who seek and secure employment 
in the missionary field, are those desiring travel, 
adventure, relief from the humdrum of home life, 
and better and easier ways of living and accumu- 
lating than are open to them at home. This class 
may not be very numerous, but they can be heard 
of in all Eastern countries, and their influence and 
operations excite great prejudice and opposition. 
As a rule, they live comfortably, while the poor 
natives they profess to befriend, enlighten, and 
convert are desperately struggling for a bare ex- 
istence. This class often establish some sort of 
business and combine with their teaching and 
preaching a profitable trade. It is inevitable that 
they should bring the missionary cause into disre- 
pute. 

But the third and larger class is composed of 
brave, energetic, and intelligent men and women 
who are giving their lives in well-directed and he- 
roic efforts to improve in body and mind and soul 
the unfortunate people among whom they are lo- 
cated. These missionaries are an honor to the 
cause they so nobly represent, and help to redeem 
it from the weakness and unworthiness of the 
others employed in the same field. Their work is 
practical, and in their efforts philanthropy, human- 
ity, and religion walk hand in hand. They feed 
the hungry, nurse the sick, teach the ignorant, and 



JAPAN 71 

preach a gospel of mercy and promise of better 
things to those who will believe and practice. They 
exhort for a religion that brings strength, and 
health, and education — how to live and work. 
This is the true missionary spirit and labor. Could 
this class be multiplied, and the weak and unde- 
serving kept at home, we should hear less criticism 
and more commendation of foreign missions. 



CHAPTER XII 



NOTES FROM A DIARY— IMPERIAL GARDEN PARTY- 
TOKIO— YOSHIWARA— FORTY-SEVEN RONINS. 



What I have written so far about Japan is gen- 
eral, but I will now, after the fashion of a diary, 
relate something of our personal experiences. 

We spent March and April mostly in Yokohama, 
with trips to Tokyo and the country in the vicinity. 
On April 26 we attended, through the courtesy 
of his Majesty, the Emperor, the "Imperial Gar- 
den party" given to celebrate the coming of the 
cherry blossoms. This is the greatest social func- 
tion given by the Emperor and Empress during 
the year. It is attended by a good many foreigners 
and by prominent Japanese from all over the em- 
pire. It is held in the largest of the imperial parks 
in Tokyo. It lasts from 2 to 6 P. M. A proces- 
sion is formed, headed by police and soldiery as an 
escort, followed by the Emperor walking alone; 
then came the Empress, then the Crown Prince 
and Princess, followed by the members and attaches 
of the royal court, and behind them the ambassa- 
dors and ministers from foreign countries, with 
their families and staffs. The procession passed 
about the grounds, so that the Emperor and other 
notables could be easily seen by all present. Imme- 
diately after the procession the Emperor held a re- 
ception, at which many persons were presented to 
him. There were also a large number of ladies 



JAPAN 73 

presented to the Empress. Then came a most 
elaborate collation, prepared by imported French 
chefs, with wines of rare vintages, as free as water. 
One of the curious features of the garden party 
was the fact that all present were in European 
dress, and this by order of the Emperor. A circu- 
lar sent with the invitations stated that gentlemen 
must appear in frock coats and silk hats, and no 
canes or umbrellas allowed. The ladies were al- 
lowed to dress in their own attractive styles, it no 
doubt being known that each one would wear the 
most stunning outfit she could afford. It seems 
strange that at an official function, the most noted 
given, the Emperor and Empress should discard 
their attractive national costume, and require all 
officials and native guests to do the same. Es- 
pecially must this be a trial to Japanese ladies, who 
are so charming in their picturesque native dress, 
and who wear foreign gowns rather poorly and 
with evident embarrassment. But the Japanese 
government is imitating Europeans and Americans 
in many directions. 

Tokyo, although the capital and the largest city 
in the empire, presents few attractions. The im- 
perial palaces and parks and the residences of the 
ambassadors and ministers from foreign countries 
are mainly located on hills and are attractive and 
imposing. But the most of the city is flat, just 
above the sea level, the streets being narrow and 
crowded, the buildings small and cheap, the water 
bad and the drainage poor. There is a general 
air of poverty and squalor pervading the whole 



74 TALES OF TRAVEL 

city. When it rains it is all mud, and when dry 
all dust. There is one large public park where 
many of the great soldiers and nobles of the em- 
pire are buried, and where the annual expositions 
are held. This exposition we visited twice, and 
found it highly interesting, a most attractive dis- 
play of the wonderful and fascinating products of 
Japan. 

One of the most unusual and remarkable fea- 
tures of Tokyo is what is known as the Yoshiwara. 
It is a section on the outskirts of the city, several 
blocks and streets, in which are confined all the pub- 
lic women of the city. There are several thousand 
occupying the various buildings. At night they 
are kept in rooms facing the street, the fronts of 
the rooms being barred like cages. Here, dressed 
in the most varied, richest and attractive styles, 
they display themselves to the visitors and pass- 
ers-by. Some of the rooms contain perhaps a 
dozen, and others many more. The streets are 
usually crowded with visitors of both sexes, who 
wonder and gaze and gossip as they look upon 
these throngs of beautiful and dissolute girls and 
women. The place is under the strictest police and 
medical supervision and it is one of the interesting 
and pathetic sights of Japan. 

There are many most odd and interesting stories 
illustrative of Japanese life and character, which 
these pages do not afford space to relate, but I am 
constrained to give one — the story of the "Forty- 
seven Ronins," which is fully authentic, and fa- 
mous as a picture of Japanese life in the old days. 



JAPAN 75 

In feudal times the common people were servants 
and retainers attached to the houses of the nobility. 
A man not in the service of a master, but wander- 
ing without a home or lord, was called a "ronin" 
and regarded, I suppose, about as we regard 
tramps in this country. 

It was the custom centuries ago, when the Mi- 
kado had occasion to send an envoy on important 
business of state, for him to designate one of the 
nobility to receive and entertain his representative 
with proper rites and ceremonies. At one time a 
lord named Asano, who was in Tokyo, was di- 
rected by the Mikado to receive an envoy from 
him. Asano, while a great warrior, was poorly 
versed in court etiquette. He therefore applied to 
another nobleman named Kira, who had often con- 
ducted high state functions, for instructions as how 
to entertain the Mikado's envoy. Now Kira was 
a selfish, jealous man of mean disposition, and en- 
vious that he had not been designated to receive 
the envoy, and he refused Asano all aid, and jeered 
at him, treating him with great scorn and insult. 
Asano restrained himself for awhile, but finally, 
losing his temper, he assaulted Kira and would 
have killed him but for the interference of guards 
and servants. Asano was arrested, tried and 
convicted of an attempt to kill Lord Kira within 
the precincts of his palace, and, according to law, 
his estates were confiscated. As Asano was irrep- 
arably ruined he committed harakiri. Thereupon 
the retainers of Asano became ronins, wanderers 
without a master. Among these retainers, now 



76 TALES OF TRAVEL 

ronins, was a man of great ability, shrewdness and 
bravery, called Oishi. After the death of his mas- 
ter he swore to revenge him by taking the life of 
Lord Kira. He consulted other of Lord Asano's 
retainers, and forty-six of them agreed to join him 
in his work of vengeance. First it became neces- 
sary to throw Lord Kira off his guard. They knew 
he would suspect an attempt to kill him, and they 
knew also that he greatly feared Oishi, well know- 
ing him to be a most shrewd and desperate fellow. 
Lord Kira meanwhile had stationed a large force 
of extra guards around his palace for protection in 
case of an attack. The ronins, knowing all this, 
and that it would be impossible to successfully at- 
tack Kira's palace until he thought the danger was 
over and would dismiss his extra guards, decided 
to separate and disguise themselves. This they 
did, scattering all over the country and entering 
into various employments. They were to keep 
their leader, Oishi, informed as to their where- 
abouts, so that they could at once assemble when 
notified. Oishi, in order to deceive Kira, pre- 
tended to plunge into a recklessly dissolute life, in 
a small town near Kyoto. He spent all his time 
in drinking-places and bawdy houses. He turned 
his wife and children into the streets and associated 
only with drunkards and harlots. He was often 
seen upon the street apparently grossly intoxicated. 
One day as he lay in the gutter drunk and covered 
with flies and filth, a former friend passed by and 
he was so disgusted that he kicked him and spat 
upon him. 



JAPAN 77 

This mode of life lasted for two years. During 
all this time Lord Kira had his spies watching 
Oishi. Kira finally became convinced that there 
was nothing to fear from Oishi or from any of 
the other ronins, and so he dismissed the extra 
guards that had been protecting his palace. Learn- 
ing this, Oishi summoned his forty-six accomplices 
to a secret meeting in Tokyo. It was resolved to 
attack the palace of Lord Kira on the night of 
December 14, 1702. 

The attack was made, and after desperate fight- 
ing, in which all the guards and servants of Lord 
Kira fled or were killed, the castle was captured. 
But Lord Kira could not be found. A second 
search was made in vain. It was about concluded 
that he must in some way have escaped, or that he 
was away from home that night. But Oishi was 
not satisfied. He went again to Kira's bed cham- 
ber and thrusting his hands under the bedclothes 
he found that the sheets were warm. Another 
search was made and they found Kira hidden with 
two servants in an outhouse in a remote part of 
the castle. He was dragged out and seated, and 
Oishi prostrated himself before him and with most 
respectful address told him they had come to 
avenge their late lord, and kindly requested him to 
commit harakiri in their presence. Being a great 
coward, he only trembled and could not summon 
the courage to kill himself. Oishi then gave to 
two of the ronins the knife with which Asano had 
killed himself and told them that as Lord Kira 
was too great a coward to seek an honorable death 



78 TALES OF TRAVEL 

they should kill him with the same dirk that killed 
their beloved master. These men then seized Lord 
Kira and beheaded him. 

The forty-seven ronins then proceeded to the 
suburb of Tokyo where their master was buried, 
washed the head of Kira at a well near by (the 
well was pointed out to us when we visited the 
graves of the ronins), and laid the head upon 
the grave of their master. Thus was their revenge 
complete. They burned incense, engaged priests 
from a monastery near by to read prayers, and 
then made a report to the government of what 
they had done, waiting patiently for such action 
as the authorities might find proper to take. A 
special council of the supreme court was convened 
in Tokyo, and as a murder had been committed, 
it was held that the law must take its course, and 
the death penalty be enforced. ' However, the 
ronins were not to be executed as common male- 
factors. They were not confined or arrested, but 
were given for some months into the care of four 
"daimios," and were then granted the privilege 
of seeking honorable deaths by committing hara- 
kiri, of which privilege they took advantage. 
Their bodies were buried in front of their dead 
master's tomb. 

Another interesting incident highly indicative of 
Japanese character: The man mentioned as hav- 
ing seen Oishi lying, as he supposed, drunk in the 
street, and who kicked him and spat upon him, 
upon finding out the truth about Oishi, went to 
his grave and committed harakiri, and was buried 



JAPAN 79 

there, so that there are forty-eight graves instead 
of forty-seven. 

The fame of the "Forty-Seven Ronins" will live 
forever in Japan. They are regarded as the great- 
est of heroes — faithful men, brave, loyal, true. 
The grass is kept green by an admiring people, and 
the smoke of burning incense forever rises above 
their honored graves. 

Many of the most important events in Japanese 
history have transpired in Tokyo. Barring the 
representatives of foreign governments, who are 
compelled to reside there, the capital of the empire, 
there are not many foreign residents. There is 
a small colony connected with business houses of 
other countries which have branches there, and 
there is always a large number of visitors. The 
diplomatic society there, as at other great political 
capitals, is large and very charming. We were 
indebted to the American Ambassador, the Hon. 
Luke E. Wright, since made Secretary of War in 
President Roosevelt's Cabinet, for many courtesies, 
as well as to the Russian Ambassador, a widely ex- 
perienced diplomat once stationed in this country. 

Tokyo is an unattractive, but an exceedingly in- 
teresting and historic city. 



CHAPTER XIII 

YOKOHAMA— ITS RESIDENTS— PRINCIPAL PORT- 
LANDING— HOTELS— KAMAKURA— ENOSHIMA. 

All travelers to the eastward enter Japan at 
the port of Yokohama. It is the principal port 
in the empire, and is constantly filled with ships 
flying the flags of all the leading countries of the 
world. All the vast trade of Tokyo and the coun- 
try to the north passes through the port of Yoko- 
hama. Frequent trains connect with Tokyo, the 
time being from twenty-five to fifty minutes. The 
business, while largely in the line of transportation, 
also shows large banking, mercantile and manu- 
facturing interests. Many manufacturing con- 
cerns located in other cities have branches in Yoko- 
hama, where they can more easily reach purchasers. 

There is a very large foreign population there, 
much greater than in any other Japanese city, and 
it largely controls the trade. Aside from the 
Chinese, the English are most in evidence, while 
there are many Germans, Americans, and other na- 
tionalities represented. The Standard Oil Co. is 
the leading commercial concern in the city. 

When the tourist headed to the East lands at 
Yokohama, he begins to feel that he is a "world 
traveler," all right. Everything around him — the 
people, dress, vehicles, houses, etc. — is so different 
from anything he has ever seen in America or 
Europe, that he knows that he has "got there" at 



JAPAN 8 1 

last, that he is really in "foreign parts." One of 
the funniest and, as he soon learns, one of the most 
useful things with which he first comes in contact, 
is the jinricksha. Most readers know what this 
is — a light, two-wheeled cart for one person, drawn 
by a man. The instant you set foot upon the dock 
these brown-skinned, nearly naked, eager, savage- 
looking coolies swarm around you like hungry 
beasts, by signs and broken words trying to induce 
you to take their rickshas. And you take one — 
you have to — and away you go, your coolie on a 
dead run, whooping like a savage, toward your 
hotel. It is a funny experience. You hang on, 
expecting every minute the frail thing will go to 
pieces, or you will be thrown out, or you will run 
over somebody in the crowded street or the coolie 
will fall down and break his neck and yours; but 
nothing happens. You soon reach the hotel, the 
coolie shouts as he suddenly drops the shafts, you 
tumble out, and it is all over, and you are safe 
and sound. These Japanese "rickshaw-coolies" 
are a class by themselves. Strong, robust, heavy- 
limbed, long-winded, they have the speed of a horse 
and the endurance of a donkey. They have a 
perpetual thirst for tea and saki, a hunger for rice, 
and a never satisfied longing for cumshaw (tips). 
There are several fair hotels in Yokohama, as 
hotels run in the East. The two leading ones are 
the Grand and the Oriental Palace, the former 
patronized largely by Americans, and the latter 
by English. There are several others of lower 



82 TALES OF TRAVEL 

class, aside from the strictly native hotel. Prices 
are rather high for the accommodations given. 

Yokohama is the least "Japanesy" of any city 
in the empire. We spent several weeks there and 
made many pleasant acquaintances. The govern- 
ment of the United States has a most agreeable 
and efficient representative at this port, in the per- 
son of Consul-General Miller. From him and his 
family we received many courtesies. 

Kamakura, which is reached by a short railroad 
ride from Yokohama, is one of the most interest- 
ing and historic places in Japan. It was once a 
great city with more than a million people, and the 
capital of eastern Japan. It is now only a little 
seashore village, where peasants and shepherds and 
coolies live in poverty and toil. Formerly it was 
the home of the great Shoguns, who ruled with 
iron hands, lived in luxury, waged desperate wars, 
and committed many bloody deeds. The city from 
the twelfth to the fifteenth century was repeatedly 
sacked and burned. Here is the colossal bronze 
Buddha, the largest image in Japan, and second 
largest in the world. It is fifty feet high and 
ninety-seven feet in circumference, the ears are six 
feet long, and the nose four and the eyes four. The 
eyes are of pure gold, and the silver boos weighs 
thirty pounds. The immense image is hollow, and 
we went into the interior, where there is a small 
shrine and a ladder leading up into the head. At 
the entrance gate to the great Buddha there is a 
tablet on which is inscribed the following, written 
by Edwin Arnold: 



JAPAN 83 

"Stranger, whosoever thou art, and whatsoever 
be thy creed, when thou enterest this sanctuary 
remember thou treadest upon ground hallowed by 
the worship of ages. This is a temple of 
Buddha, and the gate of the eternal, and should 
therefore be entered with reverence." 

The temple of Kmannon, which contains the 
great image of the Goddess of Mercy, over thirty 
feet in height, made of gilded lacquer, is at Kama- 
kura. 

The island of Enoshima, four miles from Kama- 
kura, is a beautiful spot, giving splendid views of 
sea and shore, and is a favorite resort. Here we 
dined at a Japanese inn and roamed among the 
curio shops filled with all sorts of shells, corals, and 
marine curiosities. 



CHAPTER XIV 

WESTERN JAPAN— FUJI, THE SACRED MOUNTAIN- 
KYOTO. 

On May i we started on a trip to western 
Japan, our objective point being Kyoto, about four 
hundred miles nearly west from Yokohama. The 
trip was highly interesting, as the railroad passes 
through a delightful country, touching many im- 
portant cities. It passes close to the base of the 
great mountain, "Fuji," known as the "sacred 
mountain," the highest, most beautiful, and most 
famous mountain in Japan. Pilgrimages are made 
from all over the empire to Fuji, and annually 
many thousands of Japanese meet and worship 
there. 

Kyoto is called the "Heart of old Japan," and 
seems to fit the title. It was the capital of the 
empire for more than a thousand years. It shows 
no signs of foreign influence. Its population is 
wholly native, and the people in their pursuits, 
customs, and modes of living are essentially the 
same as they were twenty centuries ago. It is old 
Japan untouched by alien hands — and this is what 
makes it so interesting. It is now, as it always has 
been, a great art center, and its innumerable art 
and curio shops fascinate the stranger and quickly 
despoil him of his wealth. The finest works in 
ivory, porcelain, metals, lacquer, embroideries, vel- 
vets, and brocades found in all the markets of the 



JAPAN 85 

world come from Kyoto. The curio shops, endless 
in number, are filled with such a bewildering dis- 
play of interesting and unheard-of curiosities as to 
confuse, charm, and entice the visitor. There are 
many old and interesting palaces and temples, con- 
structed when this was the capital and the pomp 
of royalty and the wealth of the empire centered 
here. They are old now, and most of them closed, 
but they show unmistakably the splendors of the 
long gone years. Through the courtesy of the 
government at Tokyo we were furnished permits 
to enter all the imperial grounds and palaces. The 
buildings are empty and unattractive, save for 
some rare old paintings on the screens and walls, 
but the grounds and gardens are well tended, and 
charming in their artistic and picturesque effects. 

There were formerly about eight hundred tem- 
ples in Kyoto. Most of them are now closed or 
gone to decay, but there are many still occupied, 
and some of them are extremely elegant and im- 
posing. They are mainly located on the sides of 
the hills and mountains that almost encircle the 
city, and as their great gongs strike out the hours, 
or summon the faithful to worship, their mellow 
and solemn sounds ring and echo like far off strains 
of music from the distant centuries. 

We witnessed two so-called religious processions 
in Kyoto, one called the "Feast of the Hollyhock," 
to which the Emperor sent a special envoy with his 
greetings. This procession, also called "The Pro- 
cession of the Nobles," was extremely dignified, 
and the exercises following it were solemn and im- 



86 TALES OF TRAVEL 

pressive. Another procession was in honor of 
"The Goddess of Rice," and it was a fanatical, dis- 
orderly, howling mob of half-crazed and native 
pagans, a horrid spectacle, both alarming and dis- 
gusting. There is another strange and revolting 
parade held annually, the "Procession of the Cour- 
tesans," when the fallen women, in gorgeous attire, 
painted and jeweled and bedizened, parade the 
streets, flaunting their vices and advertising their 
shameless vocation. 

In Kyoto, as in all strictly Japanese cities, the 
shops and houses are small, one story high, with 
tiled or thatched roofs, and the streets are narrow, 
crooked, and crowded. I did not see a four- 
wheeled vehicle in the city. People ride only in 
jinrickishas, and hauling is done by men and 
women with hand carts. We attended one of the 
famous geisha dinners and dances for which Kyoto 
is noted. These are not public entertainments, 
but must be arranged for privately, and they are 
quite expensive, the cost varying with the number 
of guests, the dinner served, and the number of 
dancing girls. These entertainments are of course 
interesting to strangers, sitting on the floor, eating 
and drinking Japanese foods and drinks, listening 
to the music and examining the gay costumes of the 
geishas. The dances, like all Japanese dances, are 
lacking in all life and inspiration. 

There are many interesting places and sights 
within easy distance of Kyoto. We went by jin- 
ricksha to Lake Biwa, and back on a canal that 
is tunneled under the mountain, and as dark as 



JAPAN 87 

midnight, damp, weird, and gruesome. We rode 
into the country some thirty miles by rail, and came 
back by river, "shooting the rapids," as exciting 
a ride as down the rapids of the St. Lawrence. 



CHAPTER XV 

NIKKO— MAGNIFICENT TEMPLES— A RELIGIOUS CEN- 
TER—LAKE CHUZENJI. 

We left Kyoto late in May, retraced our steps to 
Yokohama and thence into the mountains of 
northern Japan, reaching Nikko in time to attend 
one of the great annual religious festivals held on 
June i and 2. There is a Japanese proverb : "Do 
not use the word magnificent till you have seen 
Nikko." Well, Nikko is a charming spot, with 
its splendid mountains, giant forests, gorgeous 
temples, rivers and waterfalls and flowers. The 
temples here are the finest in all Japan, and are 
truly marvels of historic architecture and work- 
manship. I have no symptoms of the "temple 
craze," which attacks a good many tourists, but 
the temples at Nikko, surrounded by, and facing 
avenues of, monster cryptomaria trees, huge in 
size and height, and centuries old, make a picture 
that is truly impressive. Nikko was for ages a 
great religious center, and aside from its mighty 
temples, every road and path, along every lake or 
river, beside every waterfall, on every peak, and in 
every niche of the mountains, you find small tem- 
ples and shrines, images and monuments. The 
numerous wooded paths along which you constantly 
come upon fresh surprises are one of the chief 
charms of Nikko. In summer, located as it is 



JAPAN 89 

high above the sea, the air is fresh and cool. I 
know of no place in Japan where the scenery is 
finer, the air purer and where there are more 
natural, artistic, historic and generally attractive 
surroundings than in Nikko. It has been well said 
that Nikko has a double glory — a glory of nature 
and a glory of art. 

The walks are numerous, endless and most fas- 
cinating. It makes little difference where you 
walk, on the mountains, in the valleys, through the 
forests, the winding and wooded roads and paths 
reveal constant surprises and delights. Around 
Nikko nature is fickle and flirtatious and presents 
many marvels. Changes in the weather are sud- 
den and frequent. There is a great deal of rain, 
and violent thunder storms rage through the moun- 
tains and deluge the valleys. But when the sun 
shines this section of Japan is superb. The grass 
is always green, the flowers fresh, the air pure and 
wholesome. The birds and the breezes, the run- 
ning streams and noisy waterfalls, fill the air with 
nature's sweetest music. There are more than two 
dozen charming cascades within easy drives and 
walks of Nikko. There are avenues of mammoth 
cryptomaria trees reaching miles and miles, that 
offered shaded and delightful promenades. 

I cannot attempt to describe the temples and 
tombs and images that abound in Nikko. Here 
will be found many and marvelous specimens of 
Japanese art at its best, as shown in the many re- 
ligious monuments, gorgeous and grotesque. 



9 o TALES OF TRAVEL 

Lake Chuzenji, a delightful spot, seven miles 
distant, is a favorite summer resort, and many of 
the residents and foreign officials at Tokio have 
summer residences there. 



CHAPTER XVI 



FOURTH OF JULY AT YOKOHAMA— THE GREAT HOLI- 
DAY OF THE YEAR. 



On the last of June we went to Tokyo and spent 
a few days, and thence to Yokohama to celebrate 
the "Glorious Fourth." Although there are but 
a few hundred Americans in Yokohama, the 
Fourth of July is the most generally celebrated of 
any holiday in the year, all natives and foreigners 
joining in the celebration. Practically all business 
is suspended, and little labor is performed. The 
celebration is in the evening. Many dinner parties 
are given, and there is a great display of fireworks. 
Hundreds of ships in the harbor, from the small 
sampan to the great steamer, are covered with flags, 
Chinese lanterns, and all sorts of decorations, and 
make a most unique and brilliant spectacle. The 
fireworks are discharged from barges out in the 
bay, and the display is dazzling. The crowd is 
prodigious along the Bund, a wide avenue facing 
the harbor. Residents estimated that on this oc- 
casion it numbered one hundred thousand. Good 
nature and order prevailed. But it was a strange 
sight to see such a crowd — largely native, but 
sprinkled through with people from almost every 
country under the sun, for Yokohama is a most 
cosmopolitan city — assembled to participate in or 
witness the demonstration in honor of the great 
American holiday. 



92 TALES OF TRAVEL 

The Grand Hotel, where we were stopping, was 
the center of festivities, and it was most elabor- 
ately decorated. On the spacious enclosure front- 
ing it a band discoursed American airs, and a vast, 
richly dressed and picturesque crowd ate and drank 
and made merry. We had rooms facing the bay, 
with spacious balconies, and we gathered a com- 
pany of American friends, old and young, to see 
the fireworks and the people, and we sang and 
cheered and in bumpers of Mumm's extra dry 
toasted the flag, friends present and absent, and the 
dear old homeland. It was a great day. 



CHAPTER XVII 

LAKE HAKONE DISTRICT— MIYANOSHITA— ATAMI— 
RICKSHAW TRAM. 

There are so many charming places in Japan 
that one soon exhausts his vocabulary in vain at- 
tempts to adequately describe them. But there is 
none more delightful than the little village of 
Miyanoshita (pronounced Meanoshta) , down in 
the mountains of the Lake Hakone district. It is 
reached in about four hours from Yokohama : an 
hour and a half by rail to Kozu, same time by 
electric tram to Yumoto, and thence an hour by 
rickshaw. The trip is a varied and most interest- 
ing one. Miyanoshita lies nestling in the niches and 
clinging to the sides of the mountain, about half- 
way up from the noisy river that boils and brawls 
among the rocks in the deep canyon below, to the 
summit thickly covered with rank grasses and beau- 
tiful bamboo and other groves. "And all around 
are the everlasting hills." 

It is a quiet, restful, and romantic spot. On 
pleasant days, when fogs and clouds do not shut 
in the view, Fuji looms up plainly and grandly in 
the near distance. Far down the valley can be 
seen the sea, and all the mountain ranges that 
stretch here and there, up and down for many 
miles, are covered with high waving grasses, 
patches of woods, brooks running down their sides, 
and waterfalls, white with foam, tumbling into the 



94 TALES OF TRAVEL 

dark gorges. It is an ideal place to think and 
sleep and dream. 

I do not wonder that the Japanese artists love 
to wander among these enchanting scenes, and to 
sketch the drifting mists and fogs and clouds that 
float around the mountains, and the misty moonlit 
scenes that weave their witchery of light and shade 
over earth and sky. You know the Japanese sel- 
dom picture the sun and the bright things of the 
day. It is the moon, and the stars, and the clouds 
that appeal to their imaginations. 

The principal business at Miyanoshita is the 
making of carved and inlaid articles of wood. 
They are wonderful experts in this line of work, 
especially in their inlaying. I secured a large 
roll-top desk, every square inch of which is inlaid 
in the most beautiful colored woods. The builder 
told me it took three years to make it. The shops 
are filled with all sorts of articles, both of use and 
ornament, and they are sold at astonishingly low 
prices. 

Mr. Chamberlain, the noted, and I think, the 
most interesting and accurate writer on "things 
Japanese," makes his summer home at Miyan- 
oshita. I was fortunate in getting acquainted with 
him. He does not take very kindly to tourists, 
and as far as possible avoids their company. He 
is a very quiet, modest gentleman, reserved and 
reticent, but extremely well-informed, and a most 
cultured and impartial writer. A mutual friend 
introduced us, and I found him most entertaining. 
He loves Japan and the Japanese, and yet he looks 



JAPAN 95 

on with a keen and discriminating eye, and gives 
criticism and reproof as readily as approval and 
commendation. 

The Hotel Fuijya, at Miyanoshita, is one of the 
best, and I think the best in Japan, and prices are 
fairly reasonable. It is excellent in its location, 
apartments, service, and table. 

Lake Hakone, seven miles away, is a favorite 
resort. Walks and pleasant excursions can be had 
all about. One day we visited what is called "Big 
Hell," and it is rightly named. It is a volcanic 
region, hot, smoky, sulphurous, with boiling 
springs, streams red hot and stifling with sulphur 
fumes, vast upheavals of lava rocks, and caverns, 
black and bottomless. It's hell, sure enough. 
Near by is a noted bathing resort, where native 
men, women, and children, wholly naked, bathe 
together. 

We made an interesting trip to Atami, seventeen 
miles away, celebrated for the medical properties 
of its hot springs. It is over the mountains all the 
way. Many of the paths are narrow, rough, pre- 
cipitous, and perilous. The journey is usally made 
on foot, and this is the quickest and safest way of 
making it. We were carried in chairs, the only 
conveyance possible. There are four coolies to a 
chair. It is surprising to see with what dexterity 
these chair bearers will tread the steep, winding, 
and rocky trails. It takes all day, and a hard day, 
too, to make the trip. But the views from the 
mountain tops are magnificent and indescribable. 
It is a panorama of nature's wildest and grandest 



96 TALES OF TRAVEL 

scenery unrolled before you as you ride. How 
tame and puny are the works of man contrasted 
with these stupendous mountains that have been 
piled up and these fathomless gorges scooped out 
by the Almighty's hand ! 

We discharged our coolies at Atami and re- 
turned home the next day by another route. Atami 
is on the sea, and is a typical Japanese village, 
huddling in a narrow valley and clinging on the 
mountain side. It looked as though it might have 
been dropped down there when the world was 
made. From Atami along the sea, on the moun- 
tain side for fifteen miles, there runs what they call 
a "rickshaw tram." It is a little narrow gauge 
tramway on which the coolies push cars. The cars 
are about three feet wide by four feet long, with 
two facing seats, to hold two persons each. There 
are four coolies to push each car. Of course the 
grades are heavy along the spurs of the mountains 
— it is all up hill or down hill. The coolies push 
the cars up grades and then jump on behind and 
ride down. The speed in going down is some- 
times too great for safety. This ride is a beau- 
tiful one in its scenic effects, and the baby cars are 
sometimes quite comfortable, but the rushing and 
whirling down a steep and curving grade was some- 
thing of a nervous strain. It takes four to five 
hours to make the fifteen miles. Frequent stops 
are made to let the coolies rest. I chartered a 
private car to prevent the liability of unpleasant 
fellow-travelers, and it cost three dollars. Con- 
siderable experience for a little money. 



CHAPTER XVIII 

KOBE— OSAKA— INLAND SEA— NAGASAKI— CHARMS 
OF JAPAN. 

On August i, with much regret we left Miyan- 
oshita, where we had spent six delightful weeks, 
and returned to Yokohama, from which port we 
were to sail on the 27th to western Japan, and 
thence to China. Yokohama had been our head- 
quarters ever since landing in Japan, and we left 
there many acquaintances, and I believe some good 
friends. We sailed around the southern coast, and 
first landed at Kobe, which is at the entrance of the 
Inland Sea. This is generally regarded as a most 
interesting part of Japan. Kobe is a busy, dirty, 
hot seaport city. Its exports and imports are 
greater than those of any other city in Japan. It 
is near to many interesting places, notably Kyoto 
and Nara. It is said to furnish the best and pret- 
tiest baskets and the finest saki in the empire. It 
has several fair hotels. An hour's ride from there 
is Osaka, the greatest manufacturing city of Japan. 
At a distance its tall chimneys and smokestacks 
make it look like an American city. It has little 
of special interest to the traveler, except a few 
noted art establishments, including Maizin, the 
most famous satsuma artist in the world. 

The pride and glory of Japan is in its Inland 
Sea, regarded as one of the most picturesque and 
delightful in the world. It is 240 miles long, and 
7 



98 TALES OF TRAVEL 

varies from eight to forty miles in width. It is 
filled with islands of all sizes and shapes, so that 
in some places large ships can barely sail between 
them. Its waters are calm, and its scenery so varied 
and charming that the trip is one of unfailing com- 
fort and pleasure. The islands are thickly popu- 
lated with farmers and fishermen, villages hang 
along the hillsides and cluster in the niches of the 
mountains, and the sea is crowded thick with all 
sorts of water craft. 

We left the Inland Sea through narrow and tor- 
tuous straits, on one side of which is Moji, and 
nearly opposite Shimonosaki, both important sea- 
port cities. But as the plague and cholera were 
reported in these places, to escape quarantine we 
did not land, but sailed through to the China Sea 
and on to Nagasaki, our last stopping-place in the 
southwest corner of Japan. 

Nagasaki, though not a large city, is a most 
important seaport and one of the leading cities of 
the empire. Here foreigners first found entrance 
to Japan, and introduced a religion and civilization 
heretofore unknown to the "closed empire." Late 
in the seventeenth century all missionaries and for- 
eigners were murdered or driven out, and Chris- 
tianity extirpated. Nagasaki is now a thrifty city, 
with quite a large foreign element. The harbor is 
one of the safest and prettiest in the Orient, and is 
crowded with shipping from every part of the 
world. One of the most interesting, pathetic 
sights here, to be seen nowhere else on earth, is 
the coaling of steamers by men, women, and chil- 



JAPAN 99 

dren, black, ragged, naked, passing baskets from 
barges alongside the ship up to the coal bunkers. 
It is amazing and unbelievable, if not seen, the 
rapidity with which this terrible work is performed. 
More than four hundred tons an hour have been 
loaded in this way. Stairs or stagings are put up 
from the barges along the sides of the ship, and the 
coal passed up in baskets holding from twenty-five 
to thirty-five pounds, from hand to hand. The 
work is desperate, and yet you see boys and girls, 
old men, and women with babies on their backs, in 
the line. It is interesting and awful to see, and 
for this beastly work they get twenty-five cents per 
day. 

Nagasaki is noted for its workers in tortoise 
shell, and there is a great display of beautiful ar- 
ticles in this line. Here the ladies on the ship 
gathered, and the shopkeepers reaped their har- 
vest. After having traversed the empire, there 
is not much to interest here. We took luncheon 
with Mrs. Scidmore, the best known American 
woman in Japan, who lives here with her son, the 
American consul. She is the mother of Miss Scid- 
more, of Washington, who has written many inter- 
esting and valuable books on China, Japan and the 
Orient. After nearly six months of travel in Japan, 
visiting its principal cities, viewing its sights, observ- 
ing its customs, studying its institutions, watching 
its industries and people, at six o'clock on the even- 
ing of August 30 we sailed out of the harbor of 
Nagasaki, and an hour after caught our last 



ioo TALES OF TRAVEL 

glimpses of the fading shores of the dominion of 
the Mikado and the "Land of the Rising Sun." 

In the foregoing chapters I have given a hurried 
and naturally incomplete and imperfect description 
of the country and its people, as to dress, habits, 
modes of living, employments and general con- 
ditions and characteristics, with some reference to 
their industries, institutions and ambitions. I have 
not sought to make any analysis of their beliefs or 
characters — I do not know them well enough to 
attempt that. I have told what I have seen and 
heard and how it has impressed me. I am sure 
that all observing travelers who may visit Japan 
will agree with me that it is a most interesting 
country and its people a fascinating but enigmati- 
cal race. 

To all who may read what I have said about 
Japan, and who may hope or expect some day to 
visit there, I will say, in summing up, that the 
charm of Japan is not in its climate; in the splendor 
of its cities ; in its magnificent ruins ; in its castles, 
palaces and temples; nor in the high character of 
its people or luxury of its social life. It is in the 
beauty and wonder of its marvelous natural 
scenery; in the splendor of its mountain ranges 
in never-fading green; of its countless waterfalls 
whose music flows on forever; in its swift rivers, 
hurrying seaward; in its flowers that color and 
brighten every landscape; in its shrines and 
images and tombs that line every wayside; 
in the sublime terror of its dark and rocky 



JAPAN 101 

canyons; in its fountain-cooled gardens that 
nestle close by the hot and busy streets of ancient 
cities ; in the beauty of age and art, of scenes and 
sounds that are everywhere and everlasting. It is 
in watching the street and home life of the masses 
of the people; their strange customs and pictur- 
esque costumes; their politeness and kindliness to 
strangers ; their love and care for each other ; their 
tenderness toward the young and their respect for 
the old; in the beauty of the simple and delicate, 
or the elaborate and splendid art that adorns every- 
thing. It is the novel, the unexpected, and the 
unimagined everywhere revealing itself that sur- 
prises and delights the stranger. To me Japan is 
a mystery and a charm, and each month I traveled 
there I became more strangely interested in it. 



CHINA 



CHAPTER XIX 

JAPAN TO CHINA— PACIFIC MAIL STEAMERS- 
SHANGHAI— YANGTSE RIVER. 

Sunday morning, September I, after a most de- 
lightful voyage across the Yellow Sea, whose 
waters divide China and Japan, the Manchuria, 
of the Pacific Mail line, one of the finest ships 
that sails the Oriental seas, dropped her anchor 
off the entrance to the harbor of Shanghai, China. 
Let me say here that the Pacific Mail Steam- 
ship Company, running its ships most half 
round the world, from San Francisco to Hong 
Kong, affords the highest degree of security 
and the completest comforts to passengers sail- 
ing between the United States and the Orient. 
It is the only through line that goes to Honolulu, 
and gives the traveler an opportunity to visit the 
Sandwich Islands. The ships stop a day or two 
at each of the leading ports along their route, 
thus making pleasant breaks in the long journey, 
and giving passengers a chance for rest and sight- 
seeing. 

Shanghai is not located on the seacoast, but on 
the left bank of the Hwang-pu, near its junction 
with the Wu-Sung River, a dozen miles or more 
from where the larger ships anchor. After disem- 



CHINA 103 

barking, it takes a couple of hours on a launch to 
reach the city. Most of the ships trading with 
Shanghai can go up the river to the city, but the 
larger ones cannot cross the bar and are obliged 
to anchor out at sea and land their passengers and 
freight on tenders and barges. There is a great 
amount of shipping at Shanghai, both by sea and 
river, and the harbor is a busy one. On approach- 
ing the landing Shanghai looks like a non-Chinese 
city, as the banks of the river on both sides are 
lined with fine modern buildings, stores, ware- 
houses, hotels, banks, and so forth. The native 
quarters are back out of view, and you can hardly 
imagine that you are in a great Chinese city. It 
is frequently called the "Paris of the Orient." It 
is a rich, gay, wicked, social, and business city. 
Its population is thoroughly cosmopolitan. Of 
course the Chinese constitute the principal part, but 
all nations are represented. 

There are a great many Americans in Shanghai, 
more than in any other city in the Far East, and 
considerable trade is carried on with the United 
States. There are also many Germans and Eng- 
lish, and a large commerce with those countries is 
conducted. 

I don't know just how fully it deserves it, but 
Shanghai has the reputation of being one of the 
wickedest cities in the world. It is said that few 
young men or women from America or Europe, 
who go there to reside, succeed in business or in 
maintaining good characters. How nearly this is 



io 4 TALES OF TRAVEL 

true I cannot say, but I heard such reports from 
many apparently reliable sources. 

There is a United States Court in Shanghai, 
having a wide jurisdiction. There is also a 
United States post office, and it was the only for- 
eign place we found where we could mail letters 
to the United States for two cents postage, and 
other mail matter at domestic rates. 

Mr. Denby, formerly of the Sate Department, 
Washington, is American Consul General of China, 
and resides at Shanghai. We are indebted to him 
for numerous courtesies. 

The foreigners are noted for their enterprise 
and hospitality. As evidence of the latter, we 
reached our hotel at ten o'clock, at eleven o'clock 
were invited out and at one sat down to a most 
elaborate and beautifully appointed luncheon. 
Other invitations to drives and dinners rapidly fol- 
lowed, which we had to decline, as we suddenly 
decided to start for the interior, and return to 
Shanghai some weeks later. 

The Yangtse River is one of the greatest rivers 
in the world. It rises in the mountains of Thibet, 
and flows for more than two thousand miles down 
through the mountains and plains and the richest 
regions of China, pouring its muddy floods into the 
Yellow Sea at Shanghai. We took a steamer up 
the river to Hankow, a trip of four days, and an 
exceedingly interesting one. The country along 
the river is densely populated, the people fishing, 
farming, and boating for a living. There are 
thousands and tens of thousands of boats of all 



CHINA 105 

sizes, forms, and shapes, and practically all pro- 
pelled by oars and sails. The Chinese junk is 
most in use. Most of the boatmen live with their 
families on the boats. The captain of our ship 
told me one hundred thousand lived wholly on the 
water between Shanghai and Hankow. The land 
along the river is low, and it often overflows, but 
it is rich and is under the highest state of cultiva- 
tion. Millet, rice, corn, beans, potatoes, and quite 
a variety of vegetables, and some fruits, are pro- 
duced, also great quantities of indigo. The cur- 
rent of the river is strong, and the water deep, 
and most of the time the boat ran close to shore, 
where the current is less rapid and we could see 
what was going on on the land as well as though 
traveling there. It was a splendid opportunity 
to see the land and water life of these strange 
people. The animals used for work on the farm 
are water buffaloes. They look like a cross be- 
tween an ox and a buffalo, are fond of the water, 
and are extremely tractable for all work. There 
are no horses, a few donkeys, hogs, and cows. 
Along the lower river the land is flat, but up a few 
hundred miles hills and mountains and rugged 
scenery appears. 

The river is crooked, and at each turn come 
novel and interesting sights. Among these are the 
tall and elaborately decorated pagodas seen at var- 
ious places, temples, joss houses, and monasteries 
built on the tops and hanging to the sides of the 
mountains. They are the work of unknown ages. 
Nobody knows who constructed them, when, or 



106 TALES OF TRAVEL 

how. They are hewn out of the solid rock, and 
almost impossible of access. They are huge and 
marvelous monuments to the religions or heathen- 
ism of a great people of long gone centuries. 
Among the queerest sights on the river are the 
great rafts of lumber, covering acres in extent, and 
on which are scores of houses with streets like a 
village, and hundreds of men, women, and children. 
Another queer sight is the flocks of ducks, thou- 
sands upon thousands, crowded together by men 
in boats, and kept swimming down the stream. 
This is the way they are taken to market. 

There are many important and historic cities on 
the way between Shanghai and Hankow, but I 
cannot name or describe them. Nearly all are 
known for the manufacture of some special ar- 
ticles not made elsewhere. At Chingking we pur- 
chased boxes and trays inlaid with mother-of-pearl ; 
at Kukain we got hammered silverware. At both 
places the captain kindly held the steamer while he 
sent for the dealers, who came on board to show 
their articles. At Kukain it was between one and 
two o'clock in the morning when we concluded our 
purchases. 

The most noted city, and one of the most hor- 
rible on the river, is Nanking, the former capital. 
Its squalor and filth and general wretchedness no 
words can describe. The walled city is passably 
decent, where the consulates and public buildings 
are located and the few foreigners reside, but the 
native city, where is the main population, ugh ! 
the sights and sounds and smells are awful ! The 



CHINA 107 

cholera was raging badly there, as it was in all the 
river towns, hundreds dying daily. On a drive we 
passed the corpse of a woman who had expired on 
the street, a ghastly, but we were told a common 
spectacle. We reached Hankow, a flourishing 
city which for years was the center of the tea 
trade of the world, on the evening of September 7, 
after a most delightful voyage. There is quite a 
foreign element in Hankow, many fine buildings, 
and large business concerns. 

From here we took the train to Pekin, some eight 
hundred miles to the northeast. As the fast 
through train runs but once a week we were com- 
pelled to leave at midnight on the day of our ar- 
rival, and so did not see much of Hankow. 

The country between Hankow and Pekin is flat, 
and in some sections very sandy. It has no scenic 
attractions. It is densely populated and under 
the highest state of cultivation. The people cover 
the fields like ants, and in view of their number it 
is no wonder that they are poor. The soil will not 
produce enough to decently support them. They 
nearly all live in small mud houses, and they are 
ragged, half-naked, the children entirely so, and 
they look starved and wretched. The crops are 
about the same as grown on the river; there is 
little live stock. The team work is done largely 
with donkeys, although goats and cattle are used 
to some extent. Some of the teams are .funny. 
For instance, you often see a donkey, a cow and 
a goat hitched up together, or a cow and a goat, 
or a water buffalo and a donkey. In one instance 



108 TALES OF TRAVEL 

I saw a calf and a sheep hauling a small cart. All 
the implements used are of the crudest and most 
bungling sort. The Chinese and the American 
farmers are not only separated in distance by half 
the earth's circumference, but their methods and 
tools are apart by the span of many centuries. 

Along the river and railroad there was the full- 
est evidence of the truth of the remark made by a 
writer, that "China is one vast graveyard." It is 
so — graves by the thousands and millions. Not 
alone in cemeteries, but scattered everywhere, over 
field and farm. But the farmer tills his soil over 
and around them, and no heed is paid. 



CHAPTER XX 



PEKIN— HISTORICAL AND INTERESTING— DILAPI- 
DATED AND DIRTY TEMPLES— BOXER WAR. 



Monday noon, September 9, our train stopped just 
outside the walls of Pekin, and we alighted and 
rode through a great gate into the capital city of 
the Celestial Empire. 

Pekin — the Chinese put a "g" on it — Peking, 
is one of the old, noted and interesting cities of the 
world. There is said to have been a city there, 
although its name has been often changed, for more 
than a thousand years before the beginning of the 
Christian era. It has been under many rulers, and 
often destroyed and rebuilt. It was last restored 
in 1409, just five hundred years ago, and has not 
been greatly changed since that time. 

Pekin is really divided into three distinct cities, 
each within its own walls, viz: The Manchu, or 
Tartar City, within this the Imperial City; and 
adjacent to it the Southern City. The Imperial 
City contains the royal palaces, public offices, and 
many temples. The Tartar City, surrounded by 
its great walls thirty feet high and twenty-five feet 
thick, was formerly regarded as practically im- 
pregnable to early modes of warfare, but it now 
offers but little resistance to assaults by modern 
artillery. The foreigners live mainly within the 
precincts of the Tartar City, and it is here that 



1 10 TALES OF TRAVEL 

most of the business is done. There is no proper 
sanitation, and although there is but little rain, 
and great extremes of heat and cold, the city is 
said to be fairly healthful. 

While Pekin is the capital of the most populous 
country on earth, and is necessarily historically in- 
teresting, yet it is a dirty, dilapidated, unattrac- 
tive city. It is historic and barbaric. It is a city 
of magnificent distances and historic ruins. Little 
of its early glory and greatness remain, and it is 
a sad monument to the devastation of the ages. 
Its crumbling towers and falling walls bear sad wit- 
ness to the power and pomp of the past, and the 
weakness, ruin, and poverty of the present. 

I cannot go into very great detail. There are 
ample records of its rise and fall. We visited the 
temples of Heaven, of Agriculture, of Confucius, 
the Hall of Classics, the Lama Temple, the Bell 
Tower, and other noted institutions. It is the 
same story everywhere — waste, desolation, and de- 
cay. 

The Lama Temple is one of the largest, and pre- 
sents some interesting and some most disgusting 
features. It is occupied — or I might more prop- 
erly say, infested — by the most ragged, dirty and 
generally worthless set of vagabonds and beggars 
I have ever seen. They are Mongol priests, called 
Lamas. There are some fifteen hundred of them. 
They are supposed to be students, and are divided 
into four classes, according to the subjects of their 
study. Their studies are "The Empty Nature," 
Tibetan Translations," "Astronomy and Astrol- 



CHINA in 

ogy," and "Chinese Medicine." In addition to the 
students, there are several hundred other Lamas, 
mostly Mongol, living in the monastery connected 
with the temple. They all seem to be beggars 
of the most brazen and persistent sort. From the 
time you reach the gate until you get outside the 
enclosure you are constantly followed and im- 
portuned for gifts. They beset you at every turn 
and entrance gate. In every room, corridor or 
court you are greeted with open hands and whin- 
ing beggary. When you refuse to give, articles 
taken from the temple are offered you for sale. 
You are often motioned into some corner, or behind 
a screen, when a hidden article is produced and 
signs made to convince you that they will sell it 
secretly. Of course all this is a subterfuge and a 
fraud to deceive you into buying, and sometimes 
it works. I have personal knowledge of the fact. 
One afternoon we visited the temple to witness the 
religious ceremonies and listen to the small ring- 
ing bells and the evening chants. It was novel and 
interesting and heathenish. There are some very 
disgusting idols, illustrating the creation, hidden 
by draperies, but exposed at the request of the 
visitor and the payment of a fee. 

The Temple of Confucius is imposing and in- 
teresting. There are no avaricious priests, or ugly 
idols, or ignorant worshipers. Here there is a 
tablet on which is carved this legend: "Confucius, 
the teacher of ten thousand ages." There are nu- 
merous monuments, colored panels and tablets. 
No prophets, or princes, however great, no schol- 



ii2 TALES OF TRAVEL 

ars, however learned, no priests, however pure, un- 
less they be followers of Confucius, have their 
names here. It is strictly a Confucian Temple of 
Fame. 

The Hall of Classics, the Temple of Heaven, 
and of Agriculture, the Bell Tower, and numerous 
other institutions are well worth visiting, but we 
cannot describe them here. 

There is an interesting story told in connection 
with the casting of the great bell for the Bell 
Tower, which is said to weigh 120,000 pounds. 

The Emperor, Yung Le, celebrated for so many 
magnificent enterprises, ordered one Kuan Yii, a 
high official, to cast such a bell. For months he 
exercised all his ingeunity in preparing the molds 
for this and four other bells of equal weight. 
When all was in readiness the Emperor and the 
court, with the high officials, were invited to wit- 
ness the casting. A multitude gathered, and, as 
the cauldron was tipped to the music of the im- 
perial band, the official stood breathless awaiting 
the result — to find when the bell was taken from 
the mold that it was honeycombed and wholly un- 
fit to present to His Majesty. When this was re- 
ported to the Emperor he was naturally disap- 
pointed, but ordered him to try again. He did so, 
but with similar results. The Emperor was now 
angry, and calling the official into his presence 
ordered him to try once more, assuring him that 
in case of failure he would pay the penalty with 
his head. Kuan Yii went home disappointed and 
discouraged. Now it happened that he had but one 



CHINA 113 

child — a daughter whom he loved very dearly. 
When she saw her father thus cast down she begged 
that he would tell her the cause of his sorrow. 
For a long time he refused, but finally told her all. 
She said a few words of encouragement, and 
secretly consulted a soothsayer as to the cause of 
the repeated failures. He told her that unless the 
blood of a young girl was mixed with the metal 
tlje third casting would be as much of a failure as 
the others had been. She went home encouraged 
her father all she could, and when the time for 
the third casting came requested that she be al- 
lowed to witness it. She was permitted to do so 
and made her way up near to the cauldron, where 
she stood beside it, and when it was tipped leaped 
into the molten mass. Someone caught her by 
the foot, but her shoe came off in his hand, and 
her blood mingled with the metal in the bell, which, 
when taken out, proved to be a work of absolute 
perfection. Now when the bell is struck there is 
a moan which follows, which the Chinese say is the 
voice of the girl calling for her shoe ("Wo 
Hsieh"). 

Pekin has a few passable streets, well laid 
out, though poorly cared for, but most of the streets 
in the business part of the city are rough, narrow, 
and crooked, deep with mud when it rains and 
blinding with dust when it is dry. 

We took much interest in hearing from residents 
details of the Boxer War in 1900 and in visiting 
the places made historic at that time. It was a 
fearful time for foreign residents, and had not the 



1 14 TALES OF TRAVEL 

allied forces reached there when they did the mas- 
sacre would have been appalling. Most of the 
diplomatic and foreign residents were driven into 
the grounds of the British Legation, and from there 
kept up such resistance as they could On one 
small piece of wall enclosing the legation, not ten 
feet square, some thirty shots from cannon and 
rifles had struck, some going through the wall and 
others only chipping the brick ; but this shows what 
an accurate and deadly fire there must have been. 
Across the top of this piece of wall there is in- 
scribed in large letters this suggestive legend: "Lest 
we forget." 

Since the Boxer War all the legations and em- 
bassies have largely increased the number of sol- 
diers in their garrisons. The United States has very 
large legation grounds, and has built a series of 
fine buildings for the minister, the attaches and the 
garrison. It is the only foreign capital in the 
world where the legation buildings are owned by 
our government. 

In Pekin we visited the "execution ground," as 
the place is called where criminals are beheaded. 
It is not even an enclosure. The executions take 
place publicly at the corner where two leading 
streets intersect. We are told the executions create 
but little interest among the people, there rarely 
being large crowds to witness them. The victim 
is taken into the middle of the street, his hands and 
feet tied, one man gets upon his back and 
holds him steady by his shoulders, another 
takes hold of his head, and the third, the heads- 



CHINA 115 

man, brings down the great sword that with one 
deadly blow separates head from body. The head 
is then hung up on a pole at the spot as a warning 
to all evil-doers. 



CHAPTER XXI 

VISIT TO GREAT WALL— MING TOMBS— NANKOU 
PASS— REFLECTIONS— ADVICE. 

From Pekin we traveled up to the Ming tombs 
and the Great Wall, two of the noted sights of 
China and the world. This trip is distressingly 
hard, but interesting. About half of the way 
the travel is by train, but some miles must be cov- 
ered on foot, on the backs of donkeys or camels, 
or in litters carried by mules or coolies. As the 
safest and easiest conveyance we chose coolie litters, 
four coolies to each chair. Our caravan consisted 
of eight coolies carrying myself and wife, our guide 
on one donkey and our luggage on another led by 
a coolie. There are no hotels or stopping places 
except Chinese inns, and the only accommodations 
which these furnish are rooms and roofs. We had 
to carry cots, all bedding, all provisions except 
eggs, and all drinkables, including water. 

The native Chinese inns in the small towns in 
the country are curiously constructed and con- 
ducted affairs, and wretchedly cramped, ill-kept, 
and altogether uncomfortable. They give little and 
charge little. They are commonly low, one storied, 
flimsy and dirty, a series of small connecting build- 
ing, surrounding a large court. The court is used 
to store carts, grain, vegetables, -and all sorts of 
freight and luggage. Horses, cattle, donkeys, 
goats, camels, hogs, and chickens are kept in the 



CHINA 117 

court day and night. The noise and dirt and 
smell — well, the reader may imagine, I certainly 
cannot describe it. 

The first night out from Pekin we stayed — I 
will not say rested, or slept or ate, that would be 
misleading — at one of the worst of these hotels. 
None of them is better than others, each is worse 
than the other. The guide and interpreter does all 
the housework, makes up beds, prepares the 
food, waits on the tables, etc. He was up, gave us a 
so-called breakfast, had the luggage packed, the 
coolies on hand, and at daybreak we started for the 
Great Wall. Those who have not had the ex- 
perience of riding in chairs carried by coolies may 
imagine it is rather a comfortable and pleasant 
mode of travel. The chairs are usually made of 
reed, or rattan, or willow, cushioned, with arms 
and high backs, and look as though they would 
ride easily. But they don't. The chairs are 
pliable and comfortable in themselves, but the ir- 
regular, jerky motions of the men, when long kept 
up, shakes and tires and tortures every muscle and 
nerve in the body. Hours in a chair, especially if 
the roads are rough, so that the bearers travel with 
uneven and irregular steps, bring excessive fatigue, 
and often great pain. Give me a good donkey 
for the easiest rides. They are better than camels, 
elephants, horses or chairs. They are sure-footed, 
keen on picking out the best paths, and have won- 
derful endurance. There is a great difference in 
them, as in riding horses, but on the average they 
are the most reliable and comfortable mounts for 
travel. 



n8 TALES OF TRAVEL 

For some distance out from Nankou the road 
runs through a rather rough and sterile farming 
country, but you soon come to the great gap in the 
mountains known as the "Nankou Pass," which 
connects China with Mongolia. 

The roads through the pass were rocky, dusty, 
narrow, and in many places so crowded with men 
and beasts as to make progress slow. There is 
a river bed through the pass, dry when we were 
there, but after heavy rains and melting snows it 
is filled with a wild and raging river. The road 
runs much of the distance in the river bed, and it 
is the crookedest, rockiest, dustiest highway upon 
which man or beast ever traveled. There are sev- 
eral villages along the pass, some of them walled, 
with great gates with marvelous carvings. It is a 
sight never to be forgotten — the throngs of men, 
women and children, and beasts that crowd, jostle, 
and toil along the rocky and dusty road. There 
is an almost solid procession of people on foot, 
carrying heavy loads on poles across their shoul- 
ders, Chinese fashion; of carts, of riders on don- 
keys and camels; and droves of sheep, goats, 
camels and donkeys carrying farm products and 
merchandise, or being driven to market. We were 
often crowded out of the road and compelled to 
make long stops to let the people and the beasts 
push by. It was not a very hilarious experience. 
A good many of the people scowled and crowded, 
as though they resented our presence. At one time 
a large band of murderous-looking Mongols on 
horseback, heavily armed, shoved us out of the 



CHINA 119 

road on to the rocks and laughed and leered as they 
rode by. We saw only two white men, evidently 
English engineers, on the route through the pass. 
We were not afraid, oh, no, but could not quite 
help thinking that if something serious should hap- 
pen to us, what could be done about it, and how 
would our friends hear? Through the Nankou 
pass flows all the vast volume of trade and travel 
between China and Mongolia. It was through this 
pass that the barbaric Mongols for centuries 
poured their armies to invade and devastate the 
plains and cities of China. It was to stop these 
dreaded invasions that the Great Wall was built. 

We arrived at our destination shortly after noon 
hungry, thirsty and tired. I cannot relate my sen- 
sations as I first gazed upon this mighty and his- 
toric work, about which from my earliest boyhood 
I had heard and read and wondered. There we 
stood, under its very shadow! Right before our 
eyes loomed this prodigious monument of the ages, 
the wonder of the world — "The Great Wall of 
China." 

I cannot describe it. It is stupendous and appall- 
ing in its construction and vastness, and stretches 
and coils itself along the mountain sides and over 
and around their dizzy peaks like some huge 
dragon seeking to gather the earth into his mighty 
folds. We climbed up the long steps of an inner 
passage to the top, where in one of the great watch 
towers we had luncheon, which the guide and 
coolies had brought up. The outside of the wall 
was built of large blocks of cut granite, the inside 



120 TALES OF TRAVEL 

of brick. When one looks at the wall it seems im- 
possible that in any age or country there could have 
been secured enough money, men or material to 
construct it. It would have been an almost incon- 
ceivable task along a level country, but how it could 
be built up and over mountain peaks so steep that 
no animal could scale them, is unimaginable. 

Luncheon over, — and what a place to lunch! — 
the guide laid down some blankets on a plat of 
grass that had sprung up between the bricks outside 
the tower door, on which my wife might rest a 
little before starting on our return journey. I lit 
my pipe and started on a walk along the wall 
where it climbed up the mountain side. I did not 
reach the peak. I stopped to gaze upon the vast- 
ness of the stupendous work; its colossal ruins 
tumbled and tangled in distorted masses; the tow- 
ering and barren mountain peaks that surrounded 
us; and there came over me a strange feeling of 
isolation and loneliness, and unreality. It was like 
a dream. I strained my eyes to the westward, to- 
ward the homeland, distant more than half round 
the world; over seas and oceans and islands; over 
mountain ranges and desert wastes; across coun- 
tries and continents, until the distance dimmed the 
mental vision ; and I felt as though America was a 
myth, and the faces of friends and the scenes of 
home like the figures of the will-o'-the-wisp, that 
dance to deceive and lure to danger and despair. 
Thinking, imagining, dreaming — strange feelings 
these, and memorable experiences. 

Homesick, eh? Yes, — no, not exactly; per- 



CHINA 121 

haps just a little, a sort of symptom, not the actual 
disease. It was the first and last attack I had 
while I was on my long trip. My wife was not im- 
mune, and suffered quite often. And so, feeling a 
little ashamed and anxious to conceal my feelings 
from her, I assumed an air of interest and cheer- 
fulness, declaimed of the wonders that surrounded 
us, and talked glibly of the historic scenes that must 
have been enacted there, when the wall stood in all 
its completeness, unimpaired, swarming with de- 
fenders, and assailed by the hordes of savage Mon- 
gols that could neither destroy nor scale it. 

We had but a short time to remain if we were to 
get back before night to our starting place of the 
morning, and while we were not afraid, of course, 
we had no relish for traveling through the pass 
in the dark. After a most exhausting, but intensely 
interesting day, we arrived at Nankou just after 
nightfall. 

In the early morning, although tired and sore 
from the previous day's travel, we were up and off 
for the Ming Tombs, about the same distance from 
Nankou as the Great Wall, but in another direc- 
tion. The guide had to get several new coolies, as 
some of those of the day before failed to report. 

As everybody at all familiar with Chinese his- 
tory knows, the Ming Tombs are where are buried 
the emperors who ruled China during the Ming 
dynasty. There are thirteen of them, stretching 
along the foothills of the mountain for about seven 
miles. The location is a most beautiful one. The 
mountains bend in almost a semi-circle around the 



122 TALES OF TRAVEL 

head of the valley that stretches out for many miles 
toward the sea. All the valley for a long distance 
in front of the tombs, embracing many thousands 
of acres, was closed to settlement when the tombs 
were constructed, and for years after. But now the 
sacred soil has been invaded, and all around the 
stately buildings, and covering the granite paved 
and imposing avenues that lead up to them, can 
be seen the huts of peasants, patches of growing 
grain and pastures for grazing flocks. 

The Ming Tombs are among the most wonder- 
ful monuments ever reared to the memory of man. 
They are vast, imposing, and gorgeous relics of 
China's former greatness. Like all else in China, 
they are marked by great dilapidation and ruthless 
decay, and the buildings, some of them splendid in 
their architecture and adornments, are crumbling 
into ruins. I shall refer to but one of the many 
scores of wonderful buildings connected with the 
tombs, the Great Hall. In this hall are thirty-six 
pillars, sixty-four feet long, and about twenty feet 
in circumference, made of solid teakwood. They 
were brought from Burmah, more than two thou- 
sand miles away, and how in those early days such 
mammoth trees could have been transported and 
set up is a mystery. When we think of the cost of 
teakwood furniture, how priceless must these vast 
pillars have been ! 

When we speak of tombs, as we know them in 
this country, we refer to a single structure. Here 
at the Ming Tombs, there are several large build- 
ings and spacious courts through which one passes 



CHINA 123 

before reaching the building in which the sar- 
cophagus is located. These buildings are all va- 
cant now. To just what uses they were originally 
put I do not know. Yet there they stand, in the 
lonely shadows of the mountains, grim, solitary, 
impressive — mighty relics of an age and a people 
whose greatness seems to have long since departed. 

Fronting these buildings of the central tomb is 
a wide avenue, paved with dressed granite and 
reaching down into the valley for many miles. 
Along this avenue are great arches, gateways, and 
bridges. For a part of the distance on either side 
there are figures of men and animals of heroic size 
cut from mammoth blocks of marble and granite. 
There are lions, unicorns, elephants, camels, horses. 
The elephants are thirteen feet high, fourteen feet 
long and seven wide. All the figures, men and 
beasts, are cut from single blocks of stone. These 
effigies are of soldiers, statesmen, and mandarins — 
erected there five hundred years ago. It taxes the 
credulity of the reader to believe that such gigantic 
works as are in evidence here could have ever 
been performed — and by an "effete" race of people. 
Who could have been the men and what the ma- 
chinery to accomplish such gigantic tasks? With 
all our boasted civilization and invention and skill, 
aided by the powers of steam and electricity then 
unknown, who now would attempt such undertak- 
ings as these? 

As I wandered among the lonely and prodigious 
ruins in these strange, mysterious and wonderful 
lands of the East, whose antiquity the many cen- 



1 24 TALES OF TRAVEL 

turies have hidden, I am oppressed with the 
thought of the insignificance of human life. How 
ephemeral and infinitesimal we seem in the mighty 
doings of the ages. We flit and flourish for an in- 
stant like the insects in the sun and are gone for- 
ever, and the great processions of the nations and 
the years move on undistrubed, working out their 
destinies and their vast designs. 

A majority of the travelers visiting China never 
get north of Shanghai. They seem to think that 
when they have seen Shanghai, Hong Kong, Can- 
ton, and perhaps Macoa and a few other ports, 
they have fairly well explored the Chinese Empire, 
and learned about all that it is necessary to learn 
concerning the country, its institutions and people. 
Even most of those who visit Pekin never go into 
the interior, or up to the Great Wall and Ming 
Tombs. They are frightened by the stories of the 
hardships and expense. This is a great mistake. 
The trip, as I have shown, is a hard, but not a long 
one, and the cost is not very great. It is certainly 
worth while. The hardships, dangers, and expense 
will be soon forgotten, but the sights and wonders 
of it will live in the memory forever. If we are 
to become fairly familiar with a region we must 
to some extent wander off the beaten tracks to 
where we can see the noted sights, and gain per- 
sonal knowledge of the country, its institutions 
and people. 



CHAPTER XXII 

TIENTSIN — CHEFOO — LACE MAKING — FOREIGN 
MISSIONS. 

September 19 we left Pekin by rail for Tientsin, 
from which port we sailed on the following morn- 
ing for Shanghai, about one thousand miles south. 
There is little to see at Tientsin. It is an important 
business city, and has many foreign residents. It 
was here that the allied forces met before march- 
ing on Pekin at the time of the Boxer War. The 
stories that are told about the looting by the differ- 
ent armies on the march and at Pekin, are almost 
unbelievable. If true, a good many private sol- 
diers and officers disgraced themselves and their 
governments. 

Tientsin is a very important seaport. It handles 
the commerce of Pekin, northern China and Mon- 
golia. It is the terminal of many steamship lines 
running from Shanghai, Corea, various ports in 
Japan and elsewhere. 

The Shanghai steamer stops at Chefoo, a noted 
Chinese city, at Wei-a-wei, an English naval sta- 
tion, and at Tsingtou, a German settlement and 
naval station. The ladies have generally heard of, 
and are enthusiastic over, the "Chefoo laces." We 
visited the factory and Mrs. T., with her usual 
foresight and economical instincts, laid in a supply 
for future generations. The proprietor of the fac- 
tory is a shrewd Irishman, who was sent to Chefoo 



i26 TALES OF TRAVEL 

as a missionary, and with the thrifty characteristics 
of many of his class he saw that it was possible to 
utilize the labor as well as to save the souls of the 
"heathen Chinee." So he established the lace in- 
dustry. It has been a great success. I was shown 
all through the establishment, and was surprised 
at its magnitude and the expertness with which the 
operators, mostly children, weave the dainty de- 
signs into creations of beauty. All the employees 
belong to the mission school. One-half of them are 
studying forenoons and making lace afternoons : 
the other half working in the morning and attend- 
ing school in the afternoon. 

And so the work goes on, religion, education, 
industry. This is practical work, as is every move- 
ment that brings industrial education, opening new 
avenues to self-support. I was told that outside 
the factory, in the homes of the natives, represent- 
ing more than ten thousand people, this Chefoo lace 
is being made. If the missionaries would direct 
their efforts along educational and industrial lines, 
instead of propagating religious and sectarian 
ideas, they would accomplish great good, and meet 
a general welcome, instead of creating distrust and 
hostility. 

Right here I may as well say what few further 
words I have to say about "foreign missions." I 
believe the balance between the good and the evil 
is perhaps to the credit of the good. Nevertheless, 
all their work ought to be intrusted to conscientious 
and capable hands and the unworthy and the weak 
recalled from the service. I am aware that the 



CHINA 127 

great majority of church membership, especially 
the female members, are earnestly devoted to the 
work of foreign missions and attest their faith by 
liberal contributions of labor and money to the 
cause. This is not surprising. It is natural that 
it should be so. There are many publications 
devoted wholly to the work that are very widely 
read; there are great numbers of returned mis- 
sionaries, from different parts of the world, fre- 
quently occupying the pulpits of the churches, tell- 
ing surprising stories of their experiences and 
exhorting to increased zeal in the work and the 
necessity for more liberal contributions toward its 
support; there are hosts of those in the mission- 
ary fields writing home to personal friends and 
telling what has been done and what can be ac- 
complished and asking for further assistance: the 
continual working of all these influences cannot fail 
to create a strong sentiment in favor of the cause 
so persistently advocated. 

Now I do not claim that these people are all, or 
even a large minority of them, selfish and designing 
and trying to deceive with a view to benefiting 
themselves; but I do declare, and I know from 
personal observation and from information re- 
ceived from absolutely authentic sources, that in 
many cases the foreign missionaries are unfit for 
the work intrusted to them. No observing man 
or woman can meet and talk with them, see how 
they live, what they do, and learn how they are 
regarded by their neighbors and come to any other 
conclusion. Fortunately this is not true of all. 



128 TALES OF TRAVEL 

There are many intelligent and noble men and 
women who are doing splendid work in the mis- 
sionary field along industrial and educational lines. 
These should receive the warmest commendation 
and the most liberal support. The work of for- 
eign missions should not be dispensed with, but 
should be most thoroughly reformed. A higher 
standard of character and capacity should be fixed 
for those entering upon this most arduous, delicate, 
and important work. Sectarianism should be 
wholly abolished. Practical education should pre- 
cede religious teaching. The "poor heathen" can 
grasp secular affairs and appreciate the benefit of 
improved health and more comfortable living far 
more readily than he can understand the mysteries 
of spiritual life and religious obligations. I do not 
believe that you can greatly enlighten the soul and 
elevate the character of an ignorant, suffering man 
until you improve his bodily condition. Nobody, 
civilized or savage, will oppose any properly di- 
rected efforts to give him practical teaching, or 
bring him added comforts ; but nearly all — and 
the more benighted they are the more bigoted, — 
will resent attacks upon their religion. The Mo- 
hommedan, the Buddhist, the Hindoo, is as jealous 
of his religion as is the Christian. It is a dangerous 
experiment to assail it, and those who are com- 
missioned to do so should be keen, careful, con- 
scientious, tactful men and women who will pro- 
ceed with great intelligence and caution. If the 
work of foreign missions can be committed to such 
hands it will be vastly extended and improved. It 



CHINA 129 

seems to be an undeniable fact, to which those best 
qualified to speak bear witness, that at present 
neither the missionaries nor their alleged converts 
are in good repute. They are hated by the natives, 
and universally regarded as a menace by intelligent 
foreigners. Among all the foreign business and 
professional men, railroad and steamship officials, 
representatives of the various governments, and 
travelers, you can rarely hear a word about mis- 
sionaries except in ridicule of their personalities, 
characters and methods. 

Tsingtou, where the steamer stopped for a day, 
is a remarkable city. The German government, as 
indemnity for the killing of some of its citizens, 
received a large concession of land around there, 
and is building a great military and naval station 
and commercial city. Its broad streets, fine business 
blocks, beautiful residences, splendid public build- 
ings and parks make it seem like an oasis in the 
desert of Oriental life. 

On the morning of the 24th we again arrived at 
Shanghai, where we remained until October 1, 
when we sailed for Hong Kong. 



CHAPTER XXIII 

HONG KONG— CANTON— MACCOA— AMERICAN BUSI- 
NESS AND INFLUENCE IN THE ORIENT— OFF FOR 
SINGAPORE. 

We reached Hong Kong on October 5. Late stat- 
istics show that the tonnage of vessels arriving 
here is greater than in any other port in the world. 
It is a meeting place on the great water highway of 
commerce that connects the eastern and western 
worlds. As is generally known, Hong Kong is an 
English colony located on the island of Victoria, 
just off the coast of China. It contains a foreign 
population, mainly English, of about twelve thou- 
sand and some four hundred thousand Chinese. It 
has the distinction of being one of the most moun- 
tainous cities in the world, and having one of the 
most disagreeable climates. Were it not literally 
built on the eternal rock, the cruel typhoons that 
ravage the region would annihilate it. Although 
the harbor is almost perfectly land-locked, entirely 
surrounded by mountains, with only narrow and 
crooked passages connecting it with the sea, and 
would look as though storms would never disturb 
it, a year or two ago a playful typhoon whisked 
into the harbor, destroyed millions of dollars in 
property and took ten to twelve thousand lives. 

I was told that there are but two carriages in the 
city, which is too mountainous for four-wheeled 
vehicles. There are numerous rickshaws, but 



CHINA 131 

the most common mode of travel is by chairs. The 
business is done mainly along near the harbor at 
the foot of the mountain. Most of the foreigners 
live along the sides and on the top of the moun- 
tains, and the views from their residences are very 
charming. There is an inclined tramway running 
up the mountain for the use of those living on its 
peak. The location of Hong Kong is more ro- 
mantic than convenient. The climate is atrocious — 
hot, humid, disagreeable and depressing. We were 
told that October is a uniformly pleasant month, 
and so we arranged our schedule so as to get there 
at that time. We arrived near the first of the 
month and left near the last, and during that time 
there was no even fairly decent weather put in an 
appearance. The heat was constant and oppres- 
sive night and day. There was no let up to it. One 
went to bed exhausted and got up tired and de- 
pressed. The dampness is so great that everything 
mildews in a night. If the boy blacks your boots 
at night, they are white in the morning. Clothing 
is rendered uncomfortable and is quickly destroyed. 
Most of the foreign residents have dry rooms built 
in their houses in which to keep their wardrobes. 
White is universally worn in the hot weather by 
both the men and women. Clothing is most as- 
tonishingly cheap. As I needed (and I always 
seem to need) some additions to my hot weather 
wardrobe, I consulted the Deputy Consul-General 
as to where to get them made. He said he would 
take me to his tailor and while I would probably 
not get quite as low prices as he did, that I would 



132 TALES OF TRAVEL 

do better than to go elsewhere. I went with him 
and had made to order two white cotton suits and 
one white linen suit (coats and trousers, no vests), 
one extra pair cotton trousers, two white cotton 
tuxedo coats, one dark alpaca coat, good quality, 
and had quite a little repairing done, all for 
twenty-two dollars Mexican, or about eleven dol- 
lars of our money. Clothes get soiled and go to 
pieces quickly at Hong Kong, but it is very little 
trouble or expense to get new ones. 

The people here, like those of other Oriental 
cities, are hospitable. Strangers are made wel- 
come, and many courtesies extended to them. We 
received many wholly unexpected but exceedingly 
pleasant attentions. All the colon)^ officials and 
most of the foreigners being English, they natur- 
ally dominate society, but they are not in very close 
social touch with the resident Americans. The fact 
is that while in all the Eastern ports there are 
American consuls, and a few business men of high 
standing, there are also a good many American 
adventurers, who bring disrepute to both the com- 
mercial and social life of American residents. This 
is so notable as to often give the people of other 
nationalities erroneous impressions as to the gen- 
eral business and social character of average Ameri- 
cans. I have been much disappointed as to the 
extent of American trade and influence in the 
Orient. Both are extremely limited. In none of 
the business centers of Japan or China are the 
Americans prominent factors. They are most 
prominent at Yokohama — nowhere else do they cut 
much of a figure. 



CHINA 133 

The fact is, American manufacturers and busi- 
ness men do not seem to care very greatly for the 
Oriental trade, and so do not employ the necessary 
methods to secure it. There is a general complaint 
in the East that Americans will not take the pains 
to fill special orders of any kind, but will only agree 
to furnish standard articles, such as they keep in 
stock. It is also claimed that merchandise is poorly 
packed, and often damaged. The United States 
will never secure large Oriental trade until it learns 
to solicit and conduct business as do the other na- 
tions that are competing for it. When an English, 
German or French business house decides to try to 
establish its business in a foreign port, as a rule it 
sends out one of the partners, who takes his fam- 
ily, and makes his home where he intends to es- 
tablish, and becomes a prominent factor in the busi- 
ness and social life of the community where he is 
seeking to secure trade. He is always on the spot. 
He makes acquaintances and friends, becomes fa- 
miliar with the local trade conditions, the fluctu- 
ations of the market and knows when and how to 
best dispose of his goods. In this way, by continued 
personal effort, is permanent and profitable trade 
established. 

The American plan is different, less effective, 
and too often results in failure. If an American 
business house decides to seek a new market in the 
East, it usually sends out a "drummer," some 
dapper young fellow who wants to see the world, 
and will accept a small salary for the privilege of 
doing so. He does not expect to remain long, 



i 3 4 TALES OF TRAVEL 

makes but few acquaintances, and those often of 
the worse sort. If the temptations of the Orient 
do not actually allure him to the bad — which is too 
often the case — he makes a short stay, secures but 
little trade, and returns home with a discouraging 
report, and that is the end of the effort to secure 
"Oriental trade" made by the house he represented. 

The consular service in China has been greatly 
improved of late, and now ranks well up with that 
of the other leading nations. Here Consul General 
Wilder is active and efficient, and has the respect 
alike of the foreign and native residents. 

President Taft (then Secretary of War) and his 
party, on their way to Manila, spent a day here, 
and were much entertained. Our acquaintance 
with Mr. Taft and his wife brought us invitations 
to all the functions and festivities. First, going 
out on the bay at 10 A. M. to escort him ashore; 
second, a Chinese luncheon at noon, attended by 
many of the most prominent Chinese merchants; 
third, a general reception from four to six given 
at the Hong Kong hotel by Consul-General 
Wilder; fourth, a formal dinner given by his ex- 
cellency, Governor and Lady Lugarde, at eight at 
the Government House. 

From Hong Kong we made a trip to Canton, a 
night's ride by boat, and there spent a few days. 
The trip is an exceedingly pleasant one, the boats 
being large and comfortable. Canton is the 
largest city in China, and contains more people to 
the square yard than any other city in the world. 
In a space that in our country would not accom- 



CHINA 135 

modate a city of one hundred thousand more than 
two million people crowd and struggle and starve 
in the bitter war for life. Ants in an anthill are 
isolated and alone in comparison with the swarms 
that crowd and wriggle and rush and howl through 
the narrow and dirty alleys of Canton. Many of 
the streets are not six feet wide and in riding 
through them in a chair I could often touch the 
walls on either side. Of course no carriages or carts 
can be used. Everything is carried in the arms, on 
the head, or in baskets or buckets suspended from 
poles carried on the shoulder. All along these nar- 
row alleys are shops and houses and stores, where 
the people live and trade and work, are born and 
die, with rare breaths of pure air, or sights of the 
sun. It is an awful sight and no pen can picture it. 

Another interesting feature of Canton is the 
water life of its people. More than three hundred 
thousand live wholly on the water, in boats of 
various sizes, but all of the rudest and roughest 
kind, and many of them small. Yet here on these 
little crafts with but the slightest protection from 
the weather, families are crowded together, and 
there are births, marriages, and deaths. I am told 
that many of the children well along in years have 
never had their feet upon the soil. More than 
ninety per cent, of all the Chinese who have gone 
to the United States come from the city and prov- 
ince of Canton. No wonder. 

There is a beautiful park, called the "Shameen," 
lying along the river at Canton, and separated 
from the city by a canal, where all the foreign of- 



136 TALES OF TRAVEL 

ficials and residents live. It is a peaceful and de- 
lightful place, with its walks and flowers and trees, 
and is in strange contrast to the noisy, dirty, 
crowded city that lies just beyond. We received 
many delightful attentions from the United States 
consul here. He is a Yankee, from New England, 
and he gave us the first "square meal" we had had 
for many moons. 

Canton has a very large trade in a great variety 
of products and articles of use and ornament. It 
is the center of the silk trade in China. Here in 
the curious little shops are found goods of the rich- 
est qualities and most beautiful patterns, silks, 
embroidery, and Mandarin coats, porcelains, ivor- 
ies and thousands of articles odd, useful and beau- 
tiful. 

From Hong Kong we. also made a trip to Mac- 
coa, the old Portuguese city now famous for its 
poverty, filth and gambling. Portugal — just when 
or how I do not know — many years ago obtained 
a foothold there and established a colony, and has 
ever since controlled the city. Most of the inhabi- 
tants are Chinese of the poorer and wickeder sort. 
Occasional celebrations are held to attract people 
to the place, in the hope of increasing its business 
and arresting its decay. We timed our visit to see 
one of the "processions" which are the main fea- 
tures of the celebration. It was novel, barbaric, 
unique, and interesting. I do not believe that such 
noisy, motley, heathenish display can be seen in any 
other city in the world. No verbal picture would 
give any idea of its ludicrous and grotesque appear- 



CHINA 137 

ancc. It was headed by the figure of a monster 
dragon (the Chinese dragon) several hundred feet 
long, and carried on the heads of hundreds of men, 
its enormous and horrid head swinging and twist- 
ing in all directions, its tail lashing madly back and 
forth, and its silver scales glistening in the sun. It 
was a great sight. 

Maccoa is called the "Monte Carlo of the 
Orient," on account of its many public gambling 
houses. They are licensed by the Portuguese gov- 
ernment, and the revenues from them are said to 
pay all the expenses of the city. They are crowded 
with people of every nationality, swearing and 
sweating and jostling in their mad desire to lay 
wagers on the simple but seductive game, and every 
day enormous sums are won and lost. 

On October 23, after, having traveled many 
thousand miles through the interior and along the 
coast of China, from its northern to its southern 
boundary, and visiting most of its leading cities, 
we sailed for Singapore, some two thousand miles 
away. 



CHAPTER XXIV 

THE FUTURE OF CHINA— CHINA AND JAPAN. 

What do I think of China and its future? A hard 
question to answer. We do know that China ought 
to be one of the leading and most powerful nations 
of the world. She has the population and the 
natural resources. Her people are bright, honest, 
economical and industrious. All she seems to lack 
is an intelligent, liberal, and stable government. 
Now her people are poor and discouraged. They 
have lost ambition and are lacking in loyalty. 
They have little faith in themselves and less in their 
rulers. There are ample reasons for this condition 
of things. For many years the people have not 
received any assistance or support from the gov- 
ernment. They have been oppressed and suffered, 
abused and robbed, until their energies have become 
exhausted and their patriotism has died out. With 
fair and honest treatment, and liberal and discrim- 
inating encouragement, I believe there would be an 
awakening that would astonish the world. They 
have a large territory, mines and forests, and fertile 
soils. They have resources the development of 
which would give employment to labor, and to 
investment a good reward. I am not greatly 
versed in Chinese affairs, but I know enough of 
them to feel sure that the empire has the elements 
that ought to bring individual and national pros- 
perity. 



CHINA 139 

For many centuries China has been steadily 
going to decay. Of its former greatness its mag- 
nificent ruins give unimpeachable evidence. Of its 
present weakness and poverty the condition of its 
people and inefficiency of its government bear 
striking witness. "What shall the harvest be?" 
Continued decline and final dissolution, or reform, 
advancement, and future prosperity and power? 
No human foresight can foretell. It is a great 
question, in the solution of which all the world is 
interested. It is no wonder that the economists and 
statesmen of all the great nations are watching with 
eager and jealous eyes all movements affecting the 
future of China. To my mind, untrained though 
it be in statesmanship and the great problems of 
international concern, it seems clear that in the not 
distant future important developments must occur 
in China. This great empire must rise or fall. 
Her decadence must be soon checked or her early 
overthrow is inevitable. Unless her people are bet- 
ter educated, new industries established, and wider 
fields of labor and better wages secured to them; 
unless reforms in the public service are established, 
and efficiency and integrity take the place of weak- 
ness and dishonesty among her rulers; until the 
government wins, by deserving to win, the loyalty 
of its subjects, by adopting better methods, inspir- 
ing fresh ambitions and promoting the general 
prosperity, the happiness and patriotism of its 
people, China cannot hope to become a nation re- 
spected at home or abroad and an important factor 
in the international life of the world. If things 



i4o TALES OF TRAVEL 

continue to go from bad to worse, as heretofore, 
internal dissensions or outside interference will 
wreck the government, and the Celestial Empire 
will be no more. I believe that if the Chinese gov- 
ernment does not soon give better evidence that it 
has the statesmanship and civic virtue to protect 
and promote the interests of its people, the great 
nations will step in and take charge of the empire, 
through an international commission, or will divide 
its territory into foreign colonies. 

I am often asked by persons whom I meet, which 
country I prefer, Japan or China? It is hard to 
tell; they are greatly unlike in many respects. 
Japan is by far the most interesting and attractive 
in its natural scenery and in the appearance and 
personal characteristics of its people. In Japan 
the masses of the people in city and country are 
courteous, polite, and kindly in their treatment of 
strangers; the women and children are attractive 
in their picturesque costumes; the homes, however 
poor, are cleanly and brightened by touches of 
simple art and growing shrubs and flowers. In 
China the poorer classes are rude, noisy, dirty, with 
both sexes shabbily dressed in a universal blue, with 
no variety or attraction, and their houses are 
squalid and wholly lacking in taste and adornment. 
It is the opinion of nearly all who have resided in 
both countries that the Chinese are mentally 
quicker and brighter than the Japanese. 

As to the morals, business integrity, truthful- 
ness, and general reliability of the two peoples, the 
almost unanimous verdict of foreigners, qualified 



CHINA 141 

by experience to judge correctly, is in favor of the 
Chinese. The Chinaman is outspoken, frank, 
truthful, and will scrupulously keep his word and 
carry out his contracts. The Japanese is reticent, se- 
cretive, deceptive, and pays little regard to his prom- 
ises and obligations. These are generalizations. 
Of course there are many exceptions in both cases. 
Among the shopkeepers in both countries, especially 
with those dealing largely with foreigners, there 
is much deception and trickery, and, "for ways that 
are dark and tricks that are vain" the crafty Jap 
and the heathen Chinee are both adepts. As the 
best evidence possible as to the superior ability and 
integrity of the Chinese over the Japs, is the fact 
that, throughout both countries, in many of the 
great business houses, hotels, banks and so forth, 
where the greatest honesty and ability is required, 
Chinese are almost invariably employed as ac- 
countants and cashiers. As a country to travel in, 
Japan is greatly to be preferred; as a place for 
business I should choose China. 



JAVA— BURMAH 



CHAPTER XXV 

TRIP TO JAVA— HOW THE PEOPLE LIVE— SINGA- 
PORE— JOH ORE. 

We arrived in Singapore, the principal city on the 
island of Malacca, on October 27, after a most de- 
lightful voyage on the Kleist, one of the steamers 
of the North German Lloyd fleet in the Oriental 
trade. This company runs a line of splendid ships 
from Bremen to Yokohama, and affords to the 
traveler every possible security and comfort. Too 
much cannot be said in their praise. They are 
large, well arranged and officered, immaculately 
clean and always provide an excellent table. Taken 
altogether the ships of this line, wherever found, — 
and they run nearly all over the world, — are most 
delightful to travel on. The Pacific Mail and the 
North German Lloyd lines meet at both Hong 
Kong and Yokohama and between the two the 
traveler can circle the globe, barring the land trip 
across the United States from New York to San 
Francisco. 

After staying at Singapore one day, we em- 
barked for Java, and landed at Batavia on October 
31, after a slow, hot, and generally disagreeable 
trip. On arriving at Singapore we found that none 
of the regular ships would leave for Java until 



JAVA— BURMAH 143 

November 1, and as our stay there was to be short 
at best, we were induced to take passage on an 
Australian ship that was to call at Batavia. We 
had no time to see the ship before engaging pas- 
sage, and found on getting on board only the most 
limited and wretched accommodations for passen- 
gers. It was a coal and cattle ship, and the food 
filth and odors were simply awful. But we lived 
through it, had some fun over our experiences, 
and although a day late arrived safely in what has 
been called the "Garden of the Orient" (but I 
don't agree to it) — a most beautiful, fertile, and 
interesting tropical country. 

, I cannot go into lengthy descriptions of the coun- 
try, its climate, products, or people. Lying as it 
does almost directly under the equator, it is, of 
course, wholly tropical, and everywhere, on the 
mountains and in the valleys, there is a dense 
growth of vegetation and flowers. The country is 
generally rough and extremely attractive. Its 
native people are Soudanese and Malays. In size 
and color they resemble the Chinese and Japanese, 
but are essentially different in their dress, customs, 
habits, and modes of living. Their food is mainly 
rice and fruits. No grain is raised, and few vege- 
tables. Their dress is simple and extremely scanty. 
Their houses are small, one story high, and usually 
made out of a woven fiber, thinly split. The houses 
look like large, square baskets roofed over with 
tiled or thatched roofs. As it is perpetual summer, 
they need no protection, except against the sun and 
rain. The climate is extremely hot, but there is 



144 TALES OF TRAVEL 

less humidity in the air than in China, and there is 
less exhaustion and depression felt. The work and 
business are done morning and evening. During 
midday the fields are deserted and the offices and 
shops closed. It is quite comfortable in the moun- 
tains, but the heat is nearly unbearable in the low- 
lands. We visited two of the most noted moun- 
tain resorts and several of the leading cities. 

One of the great drawbacks to pleasant travel 
in Java is the swarms of vermin and insects and 
horrid reptiles that at all times and everywhere fly 
and creep and crawl, keeping one in a constant 
state of annoyance and fright. We had some funny 
experiences, and not so very funny after all, along 
this line. One night, just at dark, as we were 
sitting on the veranda of our hotel, we turned on 
the light and started to play a game of cards. We 
had but just begun when Mrs. T. gave a shriek, 
jumped from her chair and pointed upward. I 
looked, and there on the low ceiling, just over 
our heads, were fifteen lizards darting about in 
pursuit of flies and mosquitoes. We adjourned 
the game. A little later the same night we started 
for dinner, which was served in an outside build- 
ing, and just inside the entrance to the dining-room 
there sat, in a perfect circle, facing one another, 
six fat and solemn-looking frogs. A servant came 
and drove them away, so that we could enter the 
room. One afternoon at one of the mountain re- 
sorts I met in the sitting-room of the hotel a very 
pleasant English gentleman and sat for some time 
chatting with him. As it began to grow dark I 



JAVA— BURMAH 145 

arose to leave, when he said if I would wait a few 
minutes I would see something he thought would 
interest me. So I sat down, wondering what was 
going to happen. In a short time a servant entered 
and lit the gas in a large chandelier in the center 
of the room. Within less than five minutes the 
Englishman said, "Look there," pointing to an 
open door near by. I looked and there was the 
largest frog I ever saw, or ever expect to see, just 
coming in. He would give a hop and then look 
around; then another hop, and so on until he got 
directly under the chandelier, where he stopped and 
began to pick up the flies and other insects that had 
fallen to the floor. He stayed there a few minutes 
and then hop, hop, hop he went out the door and 
away. The Englishman told me that he had been 
there three weeks, and that the same performance 
had gone on every night at the same time. He said 
you could safely set your watch by the movements 
of that old frog. But I must not tell too many of 
these experiences or I may give some timid people 
the impression that Java is not a pleasant country 
in which to live or travel. 

Java produces a great deal of rice, a few vege- 
tables, rather poor, considerable tropical fruit, and 
has large plantations of tea and coffee. Speaking 
of coffee, one might expect to get it fresh and de- 
licious right where it grows. I expected this, but, 
oh, what a disappointment! I found no coffee 
served in Java fit to drink. They use the essence 
of coffee instead of the kernel. It is boiled down 
until it is as thick and black as the poorest molasses. 



146 TALES OF TRAVEL 

A spoonful or so is put in the cup and then the 
amount of water poured in necessary to dilute it. 
There is none of the rich fragrance and flavor of 
good coffee. It is a vile concoction and without 
excuse. 

One pleasant visit was to the great botanical 
garden at Biutzendorg. It is said to be the finest 
in the world, but I do not admit that claim. It 
contains a great variety of tropical plants and 
flowers, and there is a herd of five hundred deer 
running loose in the gardens. 

As is generally known, Java is a Dutch colony 
and has been under control of the Holland govern- 
ment for some four hundred years. There are few 
whites here except the Dutch; they control every- 
thing, not only in governmental affairs, but in busi- 
ness and social matters. They are thrifty and 
fairly enterprising, and exceedingly intolerant of 
any interference or competition. 

There is much splendid irrigation in Java — by 
far the finest I have ever seen. The work in the 
fields and nearly all the other hard work is done 
by the natives, and the wages paid are distressingly 
low. One gentleman, a manufacturer and a large 
employer of labor, told me that he paid only eight 
to ten cents a day for twelve hours' work and that 
his employees had to walk two miles to reach his 
factory, making four miles of travel and twelve 
hours inside work for a dime or less. And he 
seemed to take pride in telling of it. The natives 
are kept in the most abject subjugation — almost 
actual slavery. They are obliged by government 



JAVA— BURMAH 147 

regulation to wear certain articles of dress, and 
there are the strictest laws for their control, which 
laws are rigidly enforced. 

Java is one of the most densely populated coun- 
tries in the world. Small as it is, it has a popula- 
tion of over thirty million. Were not the country 
extremely fertile and the climate tropical, it would 
be impossible for so many people to exist there. 
None of the delights of civilization are known to 
the natives. Like the animals of the brute crea- 
tion, they simply exist, making such effort as is 
necessary to obtain the simplest food and clothing, 
and no more, and so the generations are born, live, 
and die, taking no part in the march of progress 
and never receiving nor seeking better things. 
They are, in the main, followers of the creed of 
Mohammed. 

We returned from Java to Singapore, as we were 
compelled to do, to catch steamers for Burmah and 
India. Singapore is really a most attractive city, 
and said to be as lively and cosmopolitan as any 
city in the Orient. Its streets are wide, smooth, 
clean, and lined and shaded with palms and many 
tropical shrubs, flowers, and trees. It has many 
fine business blocks and residences, all owned and 
occupied by the whites doing business there. Out- 
side of the city the roads are the best I ever saw 
and the drives most delightful, winding through 
the mazes of tropical vegetation that hedge them 
in. Oh, the density and darkness, the stillness and 
gloom of these boundless tropical forests ! The 
dangers that lurk in the jungle — the poisonous rep- 



148 TALES OF TRAVEL 

tiles, the tainted air, the hungry beasts, the slow 
rivers thick with horrid life — are death to the white 
man. I do not believe these countries will ever be- 
come thoroughly civilised or decently habitable. 
I am sure the Almighty intended them only for the 
races he has put there. Over them he has painted 
in the heavens the "Southern Cross," as a sign and 
a warning to adventurers. 

Few white people come to these countries to 
make permanent homes. They come to "make a 
stake" and then get out — so they nearly all say. 
Speculation, curiosity, the love of adventure, these 
are the motives that bring them here. 

Singapore is a great seaport and much of the 
trade of the Orient centers there. There are beau- 
tiful public gardens and parks in and around the 
city, but hot, oh, how hot it is ! It rains for a little 
while nearly every day, just as it does in Java. 
Blessed rain ! It does not cool the air much, but it 
lays the dust and shuts out the blazing sun. But 
little work is done in the middle of the day — the 
time is devoted to resting, sleeping, bathing, etc. 
By the way, the bathing accommodations in these 
hot countries are decidedly rude, cheap and curious. 
The bathrooms have cement floors, inclining 
toward an opening where the water can escape. 
In one corner of the room is a tank, built usually 
of stone or brick, sometimes of iron, filled with 
water. One does not get into the tank, but stands 
outside, and with large basins or dippers scoops 
out the water and splashes it over the body. It is 
not a very convenient or restful way of bathing, 



JAVA— BURMAH 149 

but it is highly refreshing, and often indulged in 
several times a day. Of course there is only cold 
water provided. It is a tragedy to get a hot water 
bath, and nobody attempts it except in extreme 
cases. 

One day we made a trip over to Johore, a little 
Malay kingdom a few miles distant from Singa- 
pore across the Straits. It is governed by the Sul- 
tan of Johore, a stalwart young sport of mixed 
Malay and Portuguese blood. His domain is 
small, and his subjects few and poor, but he lives 
in a beautiful house, has the finest horses and car- 
riages, the fastest autos, magnificent gardens, a 
beautiful chapel and a populous harem. He spends 
much of his time in Europe. He is said to be a 
greater hunter and an all around sport. We were 
fortunate in meeting him, as he is one of the celebri- 
ties of the Orient. His territory is nearly all for- 
est and filled with wild beasts. There are many 
tigers, and all that are killed or captured in his do- 
main belong to him. He has numerous cages in 
which they are kept. The handsomest and ugliest 
tiger I ever saw was in one of his cages. His growl 
would make a Chinaman's queue stand straight up. 

The trip from Singapore over to Johore is a 
delightful and rather an exciting one. Barring the 
crossing of the Straits on a small steamer, one 
travels all the way in a rather primitive trolley car. 
The track runs most of the distance through a 
dense jungle filled with all manner of savage 
beasts, beautiful birds and deadly and horrid 
snakes and reptiles. We saw wild monkeys play- 



150 TALES OF TRAVEL 

ing in the trees, Oriental birds of richest plumage, 
ugly reptiles swimming in the stagnant pools, and 
once caught sight of a tiger, as he dashed into the 
jungle. 



CHAPTER XXVI 

TRIP TO BURMAH— A TYPHOON— RANGOON— "FAIR 
MANDALAY" — A GREAT PAGODA — ORIENTAL 
WEDDING. 

I 

From Singapore we sailed to Rangoon, Burmah, 
a distance of about fifteen hundred miles. The 
trip is made in four days by the fast mail steamers. 
The ships on the Burmah and India coasts are all 
owned by the British India Company. They are 
rather small and poor and the management is 
evidently more interested in earning profits for the 
company than in providing comforts for the pas- 
sengers. Previous to this trip we had met with 
generally fine weather in our various voyages on 
the Oriental seas. Although right in the typhoon 
season, we had escaped these dreaded storms that 
annually work awful havoc on the waters and 
coasts of these Far Eastern countries. But on this 
trip on the Bay of Bengal a typhoon, and one of 
the fiercer sort, gathered us in its embraces. The 
captain told us that it was only the tail of the ty- 
phoon that hit us. If that was so, Heaven deliver 
me from coming in contact with the whole body 
of one. Life was decidedly unpleasant, and, some 
of the nervous passengers thought, uncertain for 
awhile. Typhoons are altogether too familiar 
and frisky for agreeable companions. All the en- 
joyment one gets from their visits is after they 
leave. And so we felt better when we got over it. 



152 TALES OF TRAVEL 

Rangoon is the capital of Burmah, and an inter- 
esting, prosperous and promising city. It is the 
outlet for a great river which drains the travel and 
trade of the country for more than a thousand 
miles — the main artery through which pulses the 
life blood of the nation. The site of Rangoon is 
older than Christianity, and the chronicles and tra- 
ditions deal of the years by thousands. The popu- 
lation is greatly mixed. The native Burman, with 
his indolence and philosophy and habits of ease, 
is giving way to the more strenuous races who are 
doing the business of the city. Of course the 
English dominate, but people from every land 
throng the streets and carry on the trade. Build- 
ing is going on rapidly and the confidence of the 
residents that Rangoon will become a great city 
seems likely to be justified. 

The Viceroy and wife, Lord and Lady Minto, 
were expected to visit Rangoon the day after our 
arrival, and the city was elaborately decorated and 
the people thronging the streets. At night the 
scene was most novel and entertaining. The 
crowds filled the streets bent on relaxation. The 
Burman, Hindoo, Malay, Indian, Japanese, Chin- 
ese, Europeans, and representatives of races and 
tribes and sects innumerable jostled each other in 
the cosmopolitan crowds. On the broad river 
which the city faces were a myriad of lights, mak- 
ing a scene which even the Grand Canal of Venice 
can hardly surpass. The river heaved with the 
billows of passing ships. The ocean liners with 
their streams of smoke — the great cargo ships with 



JAVA— BURMAH 153 

their black sails spread against the sky ; the long low 
boats — I do not know their names — swept stately 
on with the measured fall of oars; while the tall 
masted sailing vessels traced their curious network 
in the gloom. Above all the lights was a chaplet 
of flame, the diadem of the city, held high by the 
Shway Dagon, the great golden pagoda that towers 
six hundred feet above the level of the city and is 
the mecca of unnumbered worshipers, and the pride 
of Rangoon. 

I shall make no attempt to give detailed descrip- 
tion of this wonderful pagoda; in fact, it defies 
description. Its spire of gold is the first object to 
attract the traveler as he approaches Rangoon, and 
the last upon which he looks as he sails away. Its 
construction and history tell the spiritual story of 
the Burmese race. It is covered with pure gold 
from base to summit, and every generation this 
gold is renewed. It is a vast and curious pageant 
that daily visits it. The rich and the poor, the 
priest in silken robes and the peasant in scanty 
rags, come to say their prayers and make their 
offerings. It is a splendid stage upon which ap- 
pears as curious and interesting a panorama of 
Oriental life as can be seen in all the world. 

But, oh, the heathenism and barbarity of it all ! 
The terrace upon which the great pagoda and the 
small pagodas and shrines and temples stand em- 
braces about fifteen acres. On this small so-called 
sacred spot, where millions annually congregate to 
worship and make offerings — "the center of the 
universe," they call it, — are such prodigious, gro- 



154 TALES OF TRAVEL 

tesque, splendid evidences of heathenism and bar- 
barism as dazzle, appall and bewilder the be- 
holder. Temples, pagodas, shrines, images, idols, 
no end of them. Gold and silver, brass and 
bronze, marble and granite, gems and jewels. 
And, amid it all, a motley crowd, trading, praying, 
visiting, begging It is a most wonderful scene of 
which descriptions are in vain, and above it all, 
standing in golden grandeur, is the great Shway 
Dagon, upon which the people of an empire gaze 
and worship with fanatic fervor. 

From Rangoon we went to upper Burmah, some 
five hundred miles, to see the country and the 
people in the interior, and to visit the former 
capital, and the place made famous by Kipling — 
"Mandalay." "Oh, not to have seen fair Man- 
dalay." The trip up by rail was rather monoto- 
nous. The country is level, a vast delta stretching 
from the mountains to the sea, covered with rice 
fields and jungles, and sluggish streams and palms, 
the homes of insects and reptiles and alligators. 

The city of Mandalay was disappointing. It is 
finely laid out, with wide and level, but poorly kept, 
streets, and its shops and bazaars and houses are 
small and unattractive; the people poor, indolent 
and shabby. The objects of greatest interest are 
a large pagoda, the Aracon, the palace of former 
kings, and the queen's monastery. These all give 
evidence of great splendor in the olden days when 
Burman kings ruled the people and held court and 
carnival. But now the palaces and monastery are 
decayed and deserted save for a few priests and 



JAVA— BURMAH 155 

watchmen, and the great pagoda is turned into a 
huge and bewildering bazaar, where tradesmen 
hawk their cheap and tawdry wares, and peddlers 
and beggars and fortune-tellers importune the 
visitor and crowd those who come to worship. 
The scenes confuse the eye and appall the heart. 

While at Mandalay we were invited to attend 
a high-class Burman wedding. This was a great 
event in the community and the ceremonies were 
exceedingly interesting. The bride and groom, at- 
tendents and relatives, were arrayed in all the 
glories of Oriental splendor. The rooms were 
lavishly decorated. The ceremony consisted in 
singing, reading the marriage rite, joining hands 
by the bride and groom under a veil across a table, 
giving offerings to the gods, etc. The marriage 
ceremony lasted about half an hour. At its con- 
clusion the bride cut an immense cake, which was 
distributed among the invited guests. Coffee and 
wines and confections were passed, also cigars and 
cigarettes. The bride and groom shook hands 
with many of the guests. We had quite a talk 
with the groom, who could speak good English. 
He thanked us for our attendance, and translated 
our congratulations to the bride, who smiled and 
bowed with evident pleasure. It was a great wed- 
ding and a splendid revelation of one of the most 
interesting phases of Oriental life. 

We returned from Mandalay to Rangoon by 
water to Prone, three days on the Irrawaddy River, 
and thence by rail. The Irrawaddy is a grand 
river and Burmah's great highway of travel and 



1 5 6 TALES OF TRAVEL 

commerce. The passenger boats are roomy and 
comfortable, but the table! Heaven deliver us 
from such fare. For three days I was bordering 
on starvation. Nothing eatable to eat, and noth- 
ing drinkable to drink. 

In addition to these hardships were visitations 
of flying insects that were something frightful. 
The boat did not run nights, on account of low 
water, but tied up to the shore about sundown. 
As soon as the electric lights were turned on the 
trouble began. The insects came literally in 
swarms. They enveloped everything. An at- 
tempt to eat dinner, which was served after the 
lights were on, was entirely useless. Before the 
waiters could serve the food it was covered with 
the wriggling insects. After the first night we 
did not even go to the table. The only relief, and 
that but partial, came when the lights were put 
out. It was a wretched experience. 

Often for miles the shores were covered thick 
with pagodas and temples, mostly deserted, mar- 
velous relics of the days when Burmah was in her 
glory. The steamer would land frequently and 
the passengers go ashore in search of souvenirs. 
One day a friend, Professor Smith, of Columbia 
University, New York City, secured, whether 
by discovery or purchase, I never could find 
out, a very curious stone head of a Buddha, 
and presented it to Mrs. T., and she now has it 
installed, with various other religious relics, in 
the "amen corner" of our Washington home. It 
is such episodes as this, in prowling around out of 



JAVA— BURMAH 157 

the way places, traveling along unbeaten and soli- 
tary paths, searching among the debris of old ruins, 
filled with history, legend and loneliness, that give 
a zest and charm to foreign travel. 

The trip down the Irrawaddy, despite the lack 
of "creature comforts," is a curiosity and a delight. 
The great river is stately and beautiful, passionate 
and serene. Along its banks are villages teeming 
with people, beautiful pagodas with spires flashing 
in the sun, masses of ruins that tell of the splendors 
of the long gone years — fields of grain and grow- 
ing fruit, and graceful groves of swooning palms. 
There are forests, too, and jungles, where the wild 
elephants rove, the wicked tiger has his lair, the 
crafty panther lurks, and huge snakes menace and 
destroy human life. From its source to the sea 
the Irrawaddy is a wonderful river, and the trag- 
edies of the centuries that have been enacted upon 
its banks, both under civilized as well as barbaric 
rule, will make it historic forever. 

Burmah is not as thickly populated as many of 
the Oriental countries. It contains from ten mil- 
lion to twelve million people. There are many 
races, but the purely Burmese are by far the most 
numerous. They are in size larger than many of 
the natives of the East. In color they are dis- 
tinctly Oriental. They are good-natured and lazy, 
as a class. Burmese philosophy is entire indolence, 
and to them time is infinite in its opportunities for 
doing nothing. There is absolute equality of sex. 
The women are more active and seemingly more in- 
telligent than the men. They do most of the 



158 TALES OF TRAVEL 

business. The Burmese are said, by those who 
know them best, to be the happiest people in the 
world. They have leisure, equality, a fairly equal 
division of property and are blessed with cheerful 
dispositions. 



INDIA 



CHAPTER XXVII 

INDIA— CALCUTTA— CATCHING A TIGER— TRAVEL- 
ING— BENARES— THE GANGES. 

We sailed from Burmah for Calcutta, India, a 
three days' voyage, directly across the Bay of Ben- 
gal, nearly a thousand miles. 

As almost everybody knows, Calcutta is the capi- 
tal and the largest city in India. It is a beautiful 
city, has many foreign residents, and does a large 
business. The English government has spent vast 
sums of money in public buildings and institu- 
tions, in laying out fine grounds, drives, parks, and 
gardens. There is not as much for the tourist to 
see in Calcutta as in many other of the Indian cities, 
but we spent three pleasant days there. We visited 
the zoological park, a beautiful spot, containing a 
great variety of animals belonging to the Orient; 
the botanical gardens, some miles out, where is 
the greatest exhibit of tropical trees, plants, vines, 
and flowers to be found in the world. Such ferns 
and orchids and palms ! And the great banyan 
tree, a very miracle of vegetable growth — grand, 
grotesque and inconceivable. The garden is most 
beautifully laid out and kept, and its drives and 
lakes and vegetation are a revelation and a delight. 

At the zoo we saw a tiger, magnificent in his size 



160 TALES OF TRAVEL 

and colors, and terrible in his wrath, that had just 
been caught in the jungle only forty miles away, 
and his keeper told us how he was captured. A 
party of natives, hearing of his whereabouts, where 
he had killed two men and many goats and cattle, 
determined to try and trap him. They had a 
large iron cage made, took it into the jungle where 
he lived, and set it so it could be sprung when the 
tiger entered it. They then tied a goat near the 
entrance to the trap, and the tiger came that night 
and took him. For several days they repeated 
this, until the beast had feasted on numerous goats. 
Then they moved the goat under the trap. The 
tiger came as usual and walked into the trap to get 
the goat; he stepped on a spring, and the trap 
fell and he was caged. His howls and growls 
when he found he was caught the natives reported 
as something awful, enough to terrify his captors 
and all the denizens of the jungle. 

There is a fine museum at Calcutta, and a few 
interesting temples. We visited one of these where 
only Hindus of the highest caste are allowed to 
worship. It is elaborate in its construction and 
adornment. Those who worship there go first 
and bathe in the Ganges, then array themselves in 
white robes before they go into the temple. We 
had to take off our shoes before we could even 
ascend the stairs. Then we were allowed to go 
to the doors and windows and look in, but were 
forbidden to enter. We also saw the horrible 
"Black Hole" where, in 1756, a hundred and odd 
British subjects were thrown in and only a dozen 
or so came out alive. 



INDIA 161 

Traveling in India has many embarrassments. 
We are cautioned not to eat fruit or uncooked 
vegetables, and under no circumstances to drink 
water, cleanse our teeth or wash in it, without the 
use of an antiseptic. This makes rather drastic 
restrictions on the eating and drinking business. 
When we travel on the cars at night we are com- 
pelled to carry all our own bedding. At Calcutta 
we laid in our stock of blankets, sheets, pillows, 
light mattresses, etc. To travel at all satisfactorily 
it is necessary to have a guide constantly with you, 
who also acts as servant and interpreter. He takes 
full charge, buys the tickets, looks after the bag- 
gage, makes up the berths, brings meals when on 
trains, looks after the rooms at hotels, orders car- 
riages, prepares baths, distributes the tips among 
the hordes of coolies, waiters, and hangers-on, and 
makes himself generally useful. There are curious 
customs about the pay of these guides. You pay 
them a stipulated price a day and furnish their 
transportation. But in addition to this they de- 
mand a good allowance extra for clothes, and also 
expect at the end of their service a liberal present 
in money. The extras about equal the wages. 
But the whole expense is not great, and is very 
small when the amount of labor and worry they 
save the traveler is considered. About forty-five 
dollars to fifty dollars will pay the wages and ex- 
penses for a month. We had recommended to 
us and secured a servant of the first class. He 
proved to be a "guide, philosopher, and friend," 
and Mahommed was his name. 



1 62 TALES OF TRAVEL 

The railroads of India are fairly good as far 
as the tracks are concerned, mostly narrow gauge, 
but the equipment very poor. The cars are small, 
light and uncomfortable. We traveled twice 
across the empire, west and east, and from well up 
in the north to the extreme southern limit, a dis- 
tance of some three thousand to four thousand 
miles. Trains run slowly and make frequent and 
lengthy stops. The speed will average on the 
fastest trains not over twenty-five miles an hour. 
Rates of fare for first class are higher than in our 
country, second class much cheaper, and third class 
very low, about one-fifth first class fare. There 
is little first class travel, not a great amount of 
second, but the third class travel, all natives, is 
prodigious. 

Our first stop after leaving Calcutta was at Ben- 
ares, about five hundred miles distant. In one 
respect at least Benares is the most interesting city 
in India. It is called "The Sacred City." Its 
soil, its wells, its water, its temples, everything in 
and around it is considered by the natives as holy. 
Millions of the Hindus make pilgrimages here as 
the Mohammedans do to Mecca. To the Hindu 
it is the most sacred spot on earth. It may be said 
of Benares, like Athens of old, that it is "wholly 
given to idolatry." It is said to contain more 
idols than people. The River Ganges, sacred 
along all its course, is believed to have increased 
efficacy here. 

Benares is the historic spot where the believers 
in two great religions divided. Here parted for- 



INDIA 163 

ever Brahminism and Buddhism. The Brahmins 
extinguished the religion of Buddha, and his fol- 
lowers found a greater empire and a wider sway 
among the teeming millions in Burmah, China, 
and Japan. Both these great systems are mighty 
and mysterious. Between them they rule the des- 
tinies of more than half the human race. I can- 
not describe my sensations as I stood amid these 
surroundings. I gazed at the temples and ruins 
and streams of devout and enthusiastic pilgrims, 
and wondered at it all. There is no more awe- 
inspiring and impressive sight in all the world, I 
am sure, than to see the motley crowds, thousands 
upon thousands of men and women from all over 
many-peopled India, coming to bathe in the sacred 
stream and performing the ceremonies of purifi- 
cation and prayer which they believe cleanse alike 
the body and the soul. No adequate description 
can be given of the wonderful scene. Up and 
down the immense stone stairways that lead from 
the high bank down to the water's edge throngs an 
ever-moving multitude of worshipers, arrayed in 
garments white as snow or covered with the dust 
of travel, garments, some brilliant and some som- 
ber, some rich and some ragged — priests and 
princes, paupers and beggars, crowd each other. 
And all along the shore, on steps and piers, and 
standing breast deep in the sacred stream, are the 
people meditating, bathing, praying. From the 
great crowd goes up a ceaseless murmur of worship 
and adoration. Strange sensations greet eye and 
ear as one gazes upon this marvelous sight. 

Our guide informed us that in order to see the 



1 64 TALES OF TRAVEL 

largest number of bathers, and to see them to the 
best advantage, we must be down to the river early 
in the morning, take a boat and row up and down 
the stream a short distance out from shore, just 
outside the line of bathers. We determined to 
follow this suggestion. The next morning shortly 
after the sun was up we were at the river's bank — 
that river celebrated for thousands of years in his- 
tory, both sacred and profane, that river whose 
waters in the mind of heathendom have brought 
purity and blessing, and whose tragedies have been 
the horror of civilization since recorded history 
first began. As we boarded a boat and took seats 
upon the upper deck and looked down the stream 
and along the shore, such sights and sounds greeted 
eye and ear as no writer can describe and no reader 
comprehend. 

Who has not read of the River Ganges, and the 
heathenish rites and the revolting crimes per- 
petrated there! From our earliest childhood we 
have read and heard the horrid tales, how widows 
were burned alive on funeral pyres of their dead 
husbands, and how mothers threw their babes into 
the Ganges to propitiate the gods. It was all, alas, 
too true ! Now, widows are not burned, but many 
heathenish and cruel rites are practiced on the 
banks, and yearly unnumbered babes are cast into 
the waters. The Hindus burn their dead, and 
we saw several funeral pyres where the cremation 
was going on. The body is placed in a small pile 
of Avood, half a cord or so, near the top of the 
pile; a short ceremony is held, the pile is fired, 



INDIA 165 

the body quickly consumed, and the ashes thrown 
upon the waters of the river. Crowds are all 
about, visiting, praying, and bathing, but pay slight 
attention to the funeral ceremony. 

While we were solemnly watching the building 
of a funeral pile, the depositing of the body, and 
shuddering as the match was applied, our attention 
was directed to a large wedding party that was 
gayly and noisily passing close by the burning pile, 
paying no heed. The party took a boat only a few 
feet away and started across the river with shouts 
and songs, and letting out a rope of flowers as they 
sailed, the rope to be stretched from side to side 
of the river, thus binding the banks together as 
the marriage binds two hearts and lives. A pretty 
custom, surely, but the mingling of funeral and the 
fragrance of bridal flowers, of marriage songs and 
the wails of the mourners, joy and sorrow, life and 
death, is a strange panorama. I could give no ex- 
pression to my thoughts and feelings as I gazed 
upon these strange scenes, novel, pathetic, and re- 
volting, and realized that they had been enacted 
and re-enacted every day for so many years that 
they are chronicled by thousands. It was no time 
or place for words, but for straining eyes to gaze, 
trembling lips to close, and saddened hearts to 
pray. And the great Ganges flows silently on to 
the sea, and no voice from its muddy waters tells 
its wonderful story. 

Benares was once a prominent commercial and 
manufacturing city, and its products were famous 
throughout the world. Commerce, it is said, "had 



1 66 TALES OF TRAVEL 

as many pilgrims as religion." Vessels laden with 
rich merchandise lined its shores. From its many 
looms were woven, by patient and expert hands, 
the delicate silks that clad royalty and adorned the 
halls of St. James' and Versailles. In its brilliant 
bazaars were shown the muslins of Bengal, the 
jewels of Golconda and the shawls of Cashmere. 
Now, all is changed. Certain kinds of embroidery 
and brocade and articles of brass are the only 
special productions. The city is dirty, the people 
poor, and pilgrims and priests, cripples and beg- 
gars, crowd the narrow streets. 



CHAPTER XXVIII 

LUCKNOW— A MONGOOSE AND COBRA FIGHT— THE 
GREAT INDIAN MUTINY. 

Lucknow is one of the large, as it is one of the 
historic and most interesting cities of India. It is 
fifth in population of the cities of the empire. It 
is about five hours' ride, something over one hun- 
dred miles, from Benares, and has a large foreign 
population, mostly English. It is beautifully lo- 
cated and laid out — the foreign section, with broad 
streets and many fine grounds, parks, and gardens. 
It has fairly good hotels, and is one of the most 
attractive and comfortable places in India for the 
traveler to stop a few days to rest and recuperate. 
Right here let me say that while traveling in 
India the necessity for rest is frequent and press- 
ing. All the conditions for ordinary traveling are 
exceedingly hard. The climate is trying, as varia- 
tions in temperature are very great and come sud- 
denly. I have seen a change of forty degrees in 
two hours. At midday the heat may be scorching 
and you are dressed in the scantiest and thinnest of 
clothing. A few hours later you can hardly get 
on enough clothes to keep you comfortably warm. 
These conditions prevail in the central and north- 
ern sections. In the extreme north the cold is in- 
tense, with heavy snows, while in the southern part 
of the empire it is hot and oppressive all the time, 
night and day. The hotels are very poor, with 



1 68 TALES OF TRAVEL 

rude and scantily furnished rooms and a most dis- 
tressingly meager table. There is little to eat, 
and you can't eat what there is. Fresh eggs can 
usually be had. Were it not for the fruit of the 
faithful hen there would be hunger and death 
among travelers as well as among the poor natives. 
As for drinking, I have stated that water is pro- 
hibited. The universal drink among tourists and 
resident foreigners is Scotch whisky and soda. 
This is about the only beverage that can be found 
in the country districts. I never before realized 
the truth of the remark made by some old toper, 
I suppose, that "Good whisky is food, drink and 
lodging." Oh, how you do grow to hate "whisky 
and soda." But you must have it. It is a "life 
saver" in India. 

The only way that comfortable traveling can 
be done in India is in a fully equipped private car. 
In this way all necessary supplies can be carried 
and comfortable quarters had. Short side trips 
could be made without much discomfort. 

While at Lucknow I saw an exciting and to me 
most gratifying spectacle. I suspect some readers 
will pronounce it only brutal and disgusting. But 
it makes no difference, I am telling this story. I 
had heard and read about the desperate fights that 
occur in India between that vicious little animal, 
the mongoose, and the venomous and deadly cobra, 
the dreaded snake, whose bite kills many thousands 
of the residents of India annually. The mongoose 
appears to be the natural enemy of the cobra, and 
when they meet on the deserts or in the fields or 
jungle, there is a fight to the death. 



INDIA 169 

I had been told by persons who had traveled in 
India that there were a few Indians there who 
made a business of capturing the mongoose and the 
cobra and giving exhibitions of their fights. I 
always hated snakes, as most people do, and my an- 
tipathy to them has not been lessened by the fact 
that I have twice been bitten by rattlesnakes. If 
possible, I wanted to see a fight between a mon- 
goose and a cobra, and so I told Mahommed, our 
guide, to be on the look-out for one of the old 
fellows who could show me one. 

At Lucknow he heard of a man, and hunted him 
up and brought him to the hotel to see me. Ma- 
hommed, after considerable dickering as to the 
price of the "entertainment," made arrangements 
for it. One of the conditions I imposed was 
that the fight must be to a finish, until either 
the mongoose or the cobra was killed. I would 
not pay for any "fake fight" — it must be the 
real thing. I had arranged that the exhibition 
should take place on a large grass plat in front 
of the hotel. When all was ready the old 
Indian brought out the combatants. He had them 
confined in covered baskets. The mongoose is 
about the weight of an average cat, but with 
much heavier body and shorter legs. Their quick- 
ness of movement is marvelous, "quick as light- 
ning," as the saying is. They have a long head 
and nose, and rows of such sharp and cruel teeth 
as it makes one shudder to look at. The snake was 
a large one, five to six feet in length. The cobra, 
when surprised or excited, raises the front part of 



170 TALES OF TRAVEL 

his body for a foot or more, perfectly erect, his 
head becomes almost perfectly flat, and his venom- 
ous eyes flash with a horrid malignity. 

As soon as the two creatures confronted each 
other they began to move about, eyeing each other 
like two prize fighters watching and sparring for 
advantage. The snake would strike out viciously, 
but the mongoose would dodge back and escape, 
and an instant later jump and give the snake a sud- 
den bite, and dodge away again. This was kept 
up some minutes, but the movements were so quick 
that it was nearly impossible to tell when either 
were really bitten. Finally, like a flash, the mon- 
goose gave a dart, and seized the cobra by the 
neck, just behind his head. Then the struggle 
began, the snake coiled around the body of his 
enemy, and they twisted and rolled over and over, 
and struggled, the snake hissing, and the mon- 
goose crushing his bones and mangling his flesh 
until suddenly the cobra stretched out limp and 
dead. I coaxed Mrs. T. to come out to see the 
struggle, but she soon fled to the seclusion of the 
hotel. As the mongoose limpingly dragged him- 
self away the old Indian pointed at him and told 
Mahommed that he too would die, and wanted 
a largely increased number of rupees for his loss. 

Lucknow is famous as being the seat of the great 
Indian mutiny of 1857. The ruins caused by the 
mutiny, and the evidence of the desperate fighting 
— attack and defense — are on every hand. It was 
around the "Residency building," where lived the 
governor, and the public buildings near by, that 



INDIA 171 

the siege was laid and where the heavy fighting 
occurred. The ruins of the walls and buildings 
have been left undisturbed, and they are most sad 
and impressive relics of the savage revolt that 
destroyed the original structures. The center of 
interest is the Residency, now an utter ruin, in 
which were confined the soldiers and a thousand or 
more men, women, and children. It was here that 
the mutineers made their fiercest onslaught. Here 
fell the gallant commander, Lawrence, struck by a 
fragment of a bursting shell that had pierced the 
wall. Here died General Havelock, who led the 
forces of relief. Here women and children died 
of thirst and fever and fright. Here Jessie 
Brown, in delirious dreams, shouted: 

"Dinna ye hear the slogan?" 

The walls of the great building, inside of 
which was so much of suffering and death and 
heroism, are scarred and rent and wrecked by 
the storm of shot and shell that for so many bloody 
days assailed them. But to-day the British flag 
floats over the peaceful but melancholy ruins, just 
as in the hours of fiercest fight and deepest distress. 
Tennyson says : 

"And ever upon the topmost roof 

the banner of England blew." 



CHAPTER XXIX 

CAWNPORE— MORE OF THE MUTINY— AGRA— THE 
TAJ MAHAL. 

A TWO-HOUR ride took us from Lucknow to Cawn- 
pore, another important city, of two hundred thou- 
sand people. This is quite a business city, but 
the chief interest lies in its connection with the 
great mutiny. Lucknow, Cawnpore, and Delhi 
were the three storm centers of the Indian out- 
break of 1857. The atrocities committed at 
Cawnpore were perhaps the most horrible of all — 
they revealed such awful and unspeakable cruelty 
as is known only to savage warfare. Nearly all 
the English soldiers, and the most of the white 
men, women, and children, were killed in the siege. 
Finally the Indian commander, Nana, asked for 
an armistice, and promised safe convoy to the sur- 
vivors if they would evacuate, leaving all their 
arms and treasures. This was agreed to, but as 
soon as the soldiers and others came out of their 
fortified position, and took boats to go down the 
river, they were ordered fired upon, and nearly 
all were killed. Afterward all the white men, 
women, and children that remained in the city were 
removed to a small building in the outskirts. But 
when Nana learned that the British were advanc- 
ing on the city he ordered them all massacred. 
The men were brought out and killed in his 
presence. A party of Sepoys was ordered to shoot 



INDIA 173 

the women and children, but they fired into the 
air. Then a party of butchers was detailed to 
perform the foul deed, and all the bodies of the 
dead and dying were thrown into a well near by. 
The well is now inclosed and sealed up, and over 
it stands a beautiful statue, in white marble, of an 
angel — "The Angel of the Resurrection." Over 
the marble arch at the entrance to the inclosure is 
inscribed this pathetic legend: "These are they 
which came out of great tribulation." 

It is a peaceful place, this sacred spot, lovely 
and sunny, bright with flowers and green lawns 
and waving palms. I could not realize that amid 
such surroundings — for the woods and the lawns 
and the great trees were here only fifty years ago, 
and the flowers blossomed as brightly, and the 
palms waved as gently and gracefully then as now 
— there could in such a place have been per- 
formed these hellish deeds of unutterable cruelty. 
It was some consolation, relieving the feelings of 
sadness and hate that came over me, to be shown 
by the guide a big tree standing near, on which 
he said some three hundred of the savage mutineers 
were hanged, and to have pointed out the grounds 
near by, where many of the Sepoy leaders were 
chained to the muzzles of cannon and their hor- 
rid lives blown out. 

Agra, some hundred and odd miles from Cawn- 
pore, is incomparably the "show place" of the In- 
dian Empire. Other cities have their attractions 
and history of exceeding interests, but in and around 
Agra can be found more to astonish and charm the 



174 TALES OF TRAVEL 

visitor than in any other place in India. No 
traveler ever fails to visit Agra, and few there are 
who are not fascinated by its charm and bid adieu 
to it with regret. It has a population of two hun- 
dred thousand, is admirably located, well laid out, 
clean and altogether attractive. But the great in- 
terest in Agra lies in its magnificent buildings, its 
towering and massive fort, with a circuit of a mile 
and more, in the splendor of its palaces, in its 
mosques and tombs and temples, and in the im- 
pressiveness of its stately and stupendous ruins. 

The fort is built of red sandstone, and its walls 
are forty feet high. Within it are the various 
buildings belonging to the palace of a ruler. 
There is a hall of public audience, one of private 
audience; there are rooms opening one into the 
other of pure marble; here a balcony supported 
by delicate pillars, with projecting roofs; there 
exquisite balustrades in delicate lace-work open pat- 
terns, having no ornament save gilding, and with 
views extending over the Jumna and the surround- 
ing country. The Palace of Glass is a marble 
bath, adorned with thousands of small mirrors. 

The Pearl Mosque was built by Shah Jahan in 
1654. It is raised upon a lofty sandstone plat- 
form, and has three domes of white marble, with 
gilded spires. The domes crown a corridor open 
towards the court, and divided into three aisles 
by a triple row of Saracenic arches. 

The tombs of Indian kings were almost always 
built during their life-time, and under their per- 
sonal direction. A garden was chosen, surrounded 



INDIA 175 

by a lofty wall, and in the center of it was erected 
the pile destined one day to receive the remains of 
the master, but serving while he lived as a pleasure 
resort, where his wives, children, and a few inti- 
mate friends would meet to enjoy the cool of the 
evening. 

The leading features of these tombs were always 
the same. There is a high enclosure with one 
or two large gateways in the wall, and in the 
middle of it the square platform on which stands 
the mausoleum, or tomb, likewise square, but with 
the angles cut off, and covered by a dome, usually 
shaped like a horseshoe. At each of the four cor- 
ners there is frequently, but not always, a minaret 
surmounted by a small dome. On the basement or 
in a vault lie the mortal remains of the master, 
enclosed in a simple stone coffin. In an upper 
story, usually at the top, is the state tomb, which 
is a cenotaph (empty tomb). The wives or rela- 
tives of the deceased repose in small chambers be- 
low the minarets. 

The Taj Mahal, the tomb of Shah Jahan and 
his favorite wife, is the glory of Agra, and the 
finest building in India, or the world. To attempt 
to describe it so as to give any real idea of its 
grace, feeling, and general striking beauty and 
supreme magnificence is an altogether impossible 
task. It took twenty thousand men nineteen years 
to build it. It has been said by somebody, and it 
was a wise remark, "It was erected by Titans and 
ornamented by jewelers." The exquisite screens 
of marble in the windows, the fretted porches, the 



176 TALES OF TRAVEL 

arched doorways, from which a shower of fleecy 
marble, mingled with a rain of gems, seems as 
though it would fall upon you. The massive mar- 
ble walls melt and glow with the tendrils of bright 
flowers, and wreaths of precious stones are woven 
into the solid blocks. All the marble is wonder- 
fully inlaid with precious stones, texts from the 
Koran, wreaths of flowers, and the richest ara- 
besque. It is in the lower part of the building, 
and in the body of the terrace, as it were, below 
the dome, that the tombs of the great Shah, "the 
King of the World," and of his consort are placed. 
The cenotaph of the latter is covered with profuse 
ornaments and texts from the holy book of Mo- 
hammed. Her lord lies beside her, beneath a less 
costly but loftier monument, and the two tombs 
are enclosed by a latticed wall of white marble, 
which is cut and carved as though it were of the 
softest substance. A light burned in the tombs, 
and some garlands of flowers were laid over the 
rich imitations of themselves by which the surface 
was covered. The chamber of the tomb is 
octagonal, and is nearly in utter darkness. The 
effect of the rays of the lamps on the white marble 
railing, and on parts of the glistening walls of the 
tomb, is powerful, gloomy, and yet bright. On 
emerging thence we once more enter the Great 
Chamber, where are placed the unoccupied sar- 
cophagus of the Shah and of his wife, directly over 
the real tombs in the chamber below, on which are 
bestowed the most elaborate efforts of the extraor- 
dinary skill which is displayed in the building. 
Flowers in many gems, mosaics, wreaths, scrolls, 



INDIA 177 

texts, run riot over the marble surface of the sar- 
cophagus, walls, and vaulted dome. 

The Taj Mahal was built four hundred years 
ago by the Emperor Shah Jahan, as a tomb for 
his favorite queen, who was known as the "pride 
of the palace." And there she sleeps, beside her 
royal husband, under a dome of snowy whiteness 
towering two hundred feet in air, surrounded by 
exquisite screens of marble, and walls dazzling 
with gems and decorations; while tourists and 
pilgrims from the four quarters of the earth come 
to wonder and worship at this most graceful and 
impressive sepulcher in all the world. 

I cannot even name, much less describe, many of 
the remarkable buildings that have made Agra 
famous. Their number, their magnitude, their 
beauty and richness, fascinate and bewilder. What 
most surprised and impressed me is that in this 
land of present ignorance and poverty and bar- 
barism there was ever enough of men and money, 
of skilled labor, of architectural and artistic genius, 
to conceive and design and construct these mar- 
velous monuments, the equal of which are unknown 
to the world's present boasted civilization. 



CHAPTER XXX 

DELHI— A CELEBRATED CITY— GEMS AND JEWELS— 
AHMEDABAD. 

There is no more historic city in India than Delhi, 
none that has been more often destroyed, or wit- 
nessed more horrible scenes. It was the most 
northern point visited, and the railroad runs only 
a short distance beyond, to Lahore. It was for- 
merly the old Mughal capital. It had various 
early names. It was first called Delhi, in the first 
century before Christ. 

History is filled with reports of the bloody ex- 
ploits of the Tartars who under their great leader, 
Timur, invaded India in 1398. It is said that at 
Delhi the plunder and massacre went on for five 
days until the streets were rendered impassable by 
the heaps of dead. All this time Timur was 
giving a grand feast to his officers. Never was 
there such terrible slaughter and desolation heard 
of. Tennyson says : 

"Ages after, while in Asia, he that led the wild Monguls, 
Timur built his ghastly tower of eighty thousand skulls." 

The history of the invasions of Delhi forms one 
of the most appalling tales of bloodshed and savage 
cruelty ever inflicted on the human race. The 
whole country in the vicinity is thick with ruins, 
there is much to be seen in the line of forts, palaces, 
tombs, temples and mosques. 



INDIA 179 

There is a strange contrast between the massive 
ancient structures, splendid in their ruins, and the 
cheap and squalid buildings of to-day — between 
the stillness of deserted and decaying palaces and 
temples, and the noise and bustle of the busy streets 
and crowded bazaars. The street scenes of Delhi 
are strange and interesting — always crowds, noisy, 
curious, and grotesque; teams of horses and oxen 
and goats, donkeys, buffaloes, camels, and ele- 
phants, with their varied loads. One day we met 
a wedding procession with a long line of carriages 
and carts of every style, with bands and banners, 
escorting the bridegroom, who was masked and on 
horseback, to the home of the bride, they told us. 
Our carriage was halted in the crowd, and a squad 
of trumpeters stopped, turned their instruments 
upon us, and almost deafened us with their dis- 
cordant blasts. It greatly amused the crowd, and 
we laughed and shouted with the rest of them. It 
was a novel scene. In its noise and disorder, in 
its squalor and richness, in its gaudy trappings 
and golden banners, it was a typical barbaric dis- 
play. 

Delhi is famous for its jewelers, silversmiths, em- 
broiderers, and its bazaars are filled with a great 
and enticing array of artistic products, many of 
them cheap and tawdry, and many others of ex- 
ceeding richness, beauty and great value. Oh, but 
the tradesmen are a trial ! They beset you every- 
where, and it is well-nigh impossible to resist their 
insistent and perpetual importunities. There are 
a few reliable shopkeepers, but the most of them 



i8o TALES OF TRAVEL 

are frauds and fakers of the highest degree. They 
cling to you in their shops, follow you on the streets 
and invade your rooms at the hotel. I never so 
hankered for a "big stick," but I am sure I should 
have got into trouble if I had had one. 

One day, in a jewelry shop, we saw a pretty 
pendant, very odd, and distinctly Oriental. We 
priced it, but the amount named we thought was 
more than twice its value. The old fellow who 
kept the shop followed us out to our carriage, 
dangling it before our eyes, but did not reduce the 
price. The next day as we were driving by his 
shop he came out and stopped us and offered the 
pendant at a little less than his first price. We re- 
fused it, and drove on. The next morning before 
we had got our breakfast he was at the hotel, but 
Ave refused to talk with him, and from the table 
got into our carriage, and drove away, leaving him 
with a look of great disgust on his greedy and 
wrinkled face. That night, without knock or no- 
tice of any kind, he opened the door and walked 
into our room, and began to unroll a package con- 
taining the pendant and several other articles. I 
called Mahommed and told him to put the old 
wretch out, which he proceeded to do. In a 
minute or two he thrust his black face and frowsy 
head in at the window, and called Mahommed, and 
told him a tale of woe about his poverty and great 
need of money, reduced his price again, and wanted 
us to buy. I took out of my pocket some gold 
pieces, about half of what he asked, and offered 
them to him. With many gesticulations and signs 



INDIA 181 

of distress, he said he would take the amount 
offered, and handed Mahommed the pendant. 
That is the way trading is done in Delhi. But the 
pendant is a beauty. 

From Delhi to Bombay, nearly seven hundred 
miles, we made but one stop, at Ahmedabad. This 
was once the most important city in western India, 
and is said to have been one of the handsomest 
cities in the world. Now, like other Indian cities, 
its splendor is departed, although even hundreds 
of years of decay have not yet obliterated all the 
evidences of its early beauty. There are still 
temples and mosques and tombs that show traces 
of great former beauty. But the greatest interest 
is in the vast extent of the ruins within and sur- 
rounding the city in all directions. 

The street life of Ahmedabad is most interesting. 
It is the market center of an extensive district, and 
the streets and market places are literally jammed 
with buyers and sellers. Most of the agricultural 
products, as well as the merchandise and wares and 
trinkets of every sort, are displayed upon the 
ground along the streets. In many places it is 
almost impossible to drive, so great are the crowds. 
I was much interested in the live stock market that 
extended for many blocks. There were for sale 
cows, oxen, goats, donkeys, camels, and a few 
horses. The trade in oxen was greater than in all 
other animals, as they are used for teaming almost 
exclusively. Sometimes elephants are offered. It 
was a curious and most entertaining spectacle. The 
New York Stock Exchange, even in a panic, is as 



1 82 TALES OF TRAVEL 

quiet as a country prayer meeting compared with 
the howling mob that surges and trafficks in the 
streets of Ahmedabad. It is a great resort for 
professional beggars here. There is a "beggar 
rest house" of imposing size, large enough to hold 
some hundreds, and it is always crowded, for beg- 
gars are given food and rest free. Out in the 
suburbs we saw a strange sight. There were thou- 
sands of bats of enormous size, with bodies the 
size of a rat and larger, hanging, as bats hang, 
to the limbs of trees. The trees were black with 
them. In a grove not far from town we saw 
hundreds of monkeys, many of large size, sleeping 
and playing and fighting on the ground and in the 
trees. Our guide bought some food for them, and 
as we began to feed them they came in droves. 
Such antics, but it was fun. 



CHAPTER XXXI 

BOMBAY — THE ELEPHANTA CAVES — TOWERS OF 
SILENCE— PARSI WEDDING. 

A night's ride brought us to Bombay, the second 
largest city in the empire. It has a population 
well up towards a million, is beautifully located on 
a bay of the same name, and its harbor is filled with 
shipping, and the city with fine business blocks 
and other public and private buildings. Its trade 
by both land and sea is extensive. It is the port 
of arrival and departure for all the English mails 
and the troopships of the Indian army. It is also 
connected by rail with all the better settled sections 
of India. It is not conspicuous as a sight-seeing 
town for the world traveler, especially if he has 
reached it from the east, and seen Japan, China, 
and the countries of the Orient before arriving 
there. 

We stayed four days. It has the best hotel in 
India, which is not saying much, the Taj Mahal, 
an imposing building, well located, and equipped 
with all modern appointments, but with poor table 
service and management. We visited the Ele- 
phanta caves, several miles across the bay, reached 
by steam launch. They are a series of extensive 
excavations made out of the solid granite rock of 
the mountain, and are filled with statues and gro- 
tesque figures, inscriptions and odd devices. 

The most striking of the sculptures is the famous 



1 84 TALES OF TRAVEL 

colossal Trimurti, at the back of the cave, facing 
the entrance. This is a representation of Brahma, 
Vishnu, and Siva, as the creative, destructive, and 
preservative principles. Brahma is the embodiment 
of passion, desire, by which the world was called 
into being; Vishnu of goodness, by which the world 
is preserved; and Siva of darkness or anger, by 
which the world is annihilated. The Trimurti is 
nearly eighteen feet in height. It is guarded by 
two gigantic door-keepers of rock, about thirteen 
teet high; both figures are much defaced. The 
various statues show a prodigious amount of work, 
"but not much artistic merit. 

Victoria Park is extensive and interesting, con- 
taining a fine zoo. The "Hanging Gardens" on 
Malabar hill, where the aristocracy reside, have 
quite a reputation, but show little to sustain it. 

The objects of greatest interest to me, sad 
though they were, were the "Towers of Silence." 
In order to see them permission must be obtained, 
which we were fortunate enough to secure. These 
towers — and I believe there are none others in the 
world like them — are where the class or sect known 
as the Parsis deposit the bodies of their dead. 
There are five towers of various sizes. They are 
circular, built of stone, of considerable height, 
without roof, with but few entrances, and filled 
with tiers of iron gratings, on which the bodies are 
placed. At a Parsi funeral the bier is carried by 
four men, called the "carriers of the dead," fol- 
lowed by two bearded men, and the relatives and 
friends in white robes. Only the bearded men 



INDIA 185 

enter the tower. The gratings are divided into 
compartments. The bodies of adult males are 
laid in one, females in another, and children near- 
est the center. The bodies are left wholly naked, 
and in an hour the greedy vultures that swarm 
about the place have devoured the flesh. The 
bones are then thrown into a large well in the center 
of the tower, until they crumble into dust. Water 
is run into the well, and through several disinfect- 
ing filters, until it is purified and discharged into 
the sea. Earth and air, water and fire, are 
respected and worshiped by the Parsi, and must 
not be polluted. Hence this singular mode of in- 
terment. 

In the extensive area which surrounds the towers 
are beautiful lawns and gardens. The view from 
them of the city and the sea, the wide landscape 
and the distant mountains, is really enchanting. 
But to me the eye was dim to the pleasant sur- 
roundings and scenes. All thoughts were sad 
thoughts, and I could not restrain a shudder and 
a sigh, as I saw the horrid vultures perched on 
towers and trees and roofs, hideous in their ugli- 
ness, waiting for their ghastly feast of human flesh. 
Speedily as possible I got away from the revolt- 
ing sights and distress of the depressing place. 

Through the courtesy of a relative of the groom, 
we were invited to attend a Parsi wedding. It was 
a lengthy and exceedingly elaborate affair. A 
brass band was in attendance, and a banquet served 
to the guests, who were numerous. The Parsis 
are nearly all wealthy. They are mainly mer- 



1 86 TALES OF TRAVEL 

chants, and many of them have accumulated large 
fortunes in selling costly fabrics and jewels and 
articles of luxury. 

I never saw such a display of jewels and costly 
gowns as were shown at this wedding. As is usual 
at weddings, the ladies were in the majority. 
Many of them were handsome, and their toilettes 
marvels of taste and richness. After waiting an 
hour or more, it was announced that the groom was 
coming. Thereupon, a large number of the guests, 
presumably the relatives and close friends, went 
out to meet him and escort him to the hall, bear- 
ing with them flowers and presents. The bride 
soon appeared, then the priest, and the ceremony 
was performed. It consisted in reading the mar- 
riage rites, prayer, and binding together the hands 
of the couple with the marriage cord. Then came 
a lengthy exhortation by the priest, who continually 
threw rice into the faces of the bride and groom as 
he addressed them. After this, congratulations 
and the wedding feast. But the ceremony is not 
over until midnight. Just at the stroke of twelve 
the priest declares them man and wife. 



CHAPTER XXXII 

MADRAS— COURTS OF JUSTICE— SOUTHERN TEM- 
PLES— TRICHINOPOLY— TANJORE— MADURA. 

From Bombay we traveled, without stopping, en- 
tirely across the empire, in a southeasterly direc- 
tion, about a thousand miles, reaching Madras 
after two nights and a day of extremely tiresome 
travel. Worn and dirty and sleepy, we arrived 
at Madras and were indignant and disgusted to 
find that we could secure no decent hotel accommo- 
dations. Every white hotel was full, and we were 
compelled to stop at an Indian house, and whether 
the absence of food or the presence of dirt was 
the most disappointing and obnoxious, I won't 
undertake to tell. We left the city that night. 

Madras is the third largest city in India, and 
does a large business. Its shipping interests are 
particularly extensive. Its wide streets and parks 
and public buildings are attractive. We much 
enjoyed a drive about the city, but stopped only 
once to visit the judiciary building, where the 
various courts were in session. A courteous official 
escorted us to the various courtrooms, and we saw 
the judges and barristers, the crowds of litigants 
and spectators, that filled every room. All the 
judges we saw but one were white. There was one 
Indian. All the barristers were Indian. We were 
informed that formerly there were a good many 
white men practicing law, but that now nearly all 



1 88 TALES OF TRAVEL 

were natives. It was a queer sight. All the bar- 
risters were dressed substantially alike, with large 
white turbans, barristers' gowns, short baggy 
trousers, and were bare-legged and barefooted. 

The other places visited were Tanjore, Trichin- 
opoly, Madura, and Tuticorin. The finest temple 
in southern India, and the oldest, is at Tanjore. 
It was especially interesting as it showed a style of 
architecture entirely different from anything we had 
seen, either in India or in any other country. All 
the ancient architecture in the central and southern 
part of India is wholly unlike that found in the 
northern part. At Trichinopoly and Madura 
there are several remarkable temples, wonderful in 
their size and construction, and each presenting 
some features of special interest. They are all 
notable for the throngs of worshipers that fre- 
quent them, and for the hordes of insolent and per- 
sistent beggars that importune the visitors. 

Although the temples in southern India differ 
radically from those found in any other part of the 
world, yet they are very similar in plan and form, 
and present almost invariably the four following 
parts, arranged in various manners, but differing 
only according to the age in which they were 
erected. 

1. The principal part, the actual temple itself, 
is always square in plan, and surmounted by a 
pyramidal roof of one or more stories; it contains 
the cell in which the image of the god or his emblem 
is placed. 

2. The porches, which always cover and pre- 
cede the door leading to the cell. 



INDIA 189 

3. Gate pyramids, which are the principal feat- 
ures in the quadrangular enclosures. 

4. Pillared halls, used for various purposes, and 
which are the invariable accompaniments of their 
temples. 

Besides these, a temple always contains tanks or 
wells for water — to be used either for sacred pur- 
poses or the convenience of the priests — dwellings 
for all the various grades of the priesthood attached 
to it, and numerous other buildings designated for 
state or convenience. 

There is one most disgraceful feature connected 
with some of the South Indian temples. Dubois, 
referring to them, says : 

"Next to the sacrificers, the most important per- 
sons about the temples are the dancing girls, who 
call themselves servants or slaves of the gods. 
Their profession requires of them to be open to the 
embraces of persons of all castes. 

"They are bred to this profligate life from their 
infancy. They are taken from any caste, and are 
frequently of respectable birth. It is nothing un- 
common to hear of pregnant women, in the belief 
that it will tend to their happy delivery, making a 
vow, with the consent of their husbands, to devote 
the child, if it should turn out a girl, to the service 
of the pagoda. And in doing so they imagine they 
are performing a meritorious duty. The infamous 
life to which the daughter is destined brings no dis- 
grace to the family." 

In none of these cities south of Madras are there 
any hotels other than native, and travelers must 



190 TALES OF TRAVEL 

secure their food and lodging at the railway sta- 
tions. This, however, is no hardship, as these "re- 
freshment houses," as they are called, are really 
more comfortable and serve better food than the 
hotels. The station masters, who are mostly white, 
and all speak English, are as a rule exceedingly 
courteous and attentive to first-class passengers. 
A case in point. At Trichinopoly we were ready 
to leave for Madura, only a short distance, at 6 
P. M., but there was no regular train due until mid- 
night. This would bring us to Madura in the 
early morning, and we would lose a night's rest, 
which in our tired condition seemed serious. But 
as there seemed to be no way out, we ordered a 
seven o'clock dinner, and prepared to make the 
best of the situation. Just before seven o'clock the 
station master rushed into our room, and said a 
special train would be along in fifteen minutes, and 
we could take that and reach Madura at an early 
hour and get a good night's rest. We told him 
we had eaten nothing since noon, and the train 
would arrive before we could get dinner. He said 
to get on the train and he would provide us with 
eatables. We obeyed, and although the train 
stopped only a few minutes he had sent to us in our 
car an excellent lunch of sandwiches, sardines, soda, 
etc., and told us to leave the tray and dishes at the 
first station after we got through with them. Such 
incidents as that "strangers in a strange land," tired 
and hungry, and helpless, enthusiastically appre- 
ciate. 

On the afternoon of December 21, at five 



INDIA 191 

o'clock, we reached Tuticorin, and at once took 
passage for Colombo, Ceylon. As the launch that 
was to convey us to the steamer, anchored in the 
roadstead some miles away, pushed out from the 
dock, I stood up and waved a glad farewell to the 
interesting, but wretched Indian Empire, and fer- 
vently expressed the hope that I might never look 
upon its like again. 



CHAPTER XXXIII 

OPINION OF INDIA— CLIMATE AND CUSTOMS- 
CASTE— EARLY MARRIAGES— ENGLISH CONTROL. 

Now that I have seen India, what do I think of 
it — of its climate, its people, its products, its re- 
sources, its customs, its institutions, its government, 
and generally of its present and future? Its cli- 
mate is atrocious — the extremest heat, the most bit- 
ter cold, subject to sudden changes, enervating, dis- 
agreeable, and unhealthy. Its people, the great 
majority of them, are poor, ignorant, indolent, su- 
perstitious, idolatrous, and cruel. Its products are 
narrowly diversified, scanty for the demands, and 
uncertain. Its resources are limited and much ex- 
hausted. Its customs are crude, unreasoning, 
heathenish, and revolting. Its institutions, those 
of native origin, are intolerant, debasing, and bar- 
baric. Its government may be as wise and orderly, 
as liberal and as rigid, as progressive and as stable, 
as can be successfully administered among such a 
people. Of this my observation was too limited 
to form an intelligent judgment. At present the 
native people are in a wretched and restless state, 
lacking in all that goes to make up contented, pros- 
perous, and decently civilized life. What the 
future has in store for this great empire I do not 
believe that statesmanship or philanthropy can 
rightly foretell. 

To make a fairly exhaustive study of Indian 



INDIA 193 

conditions would take years and fill volumes. I 
saw only what is upon the surface, but that was 
quite enough to conceive me that of all coun- 
tries and peoples, India is the most unpromising, 
and its native residents the most wretched and 
hopeless. It is a land of plague, pestilence, and 
famine ; of ignorance, indolence, caste, and cruelty. 
The ravages of deadly diseases are never stayed 
and years of widespread famine come with alarm- 
ing frequency. The two greatest curses of India 
are caste and early marriages. Caste dominates, 
embitters, and destroys social relations, and child 
marriages create trains of evil and a most alarming 
over-production of population. Nobody knows, 
not even the Hindus themselves, the number of 
castes, or the restrictions, obligations, and cruelties 
which they impose. We do know that caste per- 
meates and controls all Hindu life. From, birth to 
death it directs every movement. The Hindu at 
all times and everywhere, in every relation of life, 
is under its pervading and malign influence. And 
it exercises a tyranny the most unreasoning and re- 
lentless ever conceived by the human mind. It is 
derived from birth. It cannot be ignored nor trans- 
ferred. The King of England, who is sovereign of 
India, may promote or demote his official subjects, 
but he cannot alter the caste of the humblest Hindu. 
Even a Hindu pauper would starve before he 
would eat with the king. 

Sir W. W. Hunter, a noted writer on India says : 
"I saw a Brahmin felon try to starve himself to 
death and submit to a flogging, on account of his 

13 



194 TALES OF TRAVEL 

scruples as to whether the man who cooked his food 
came from a section that was equal in sanctity to his 
own native district." A man of one caste will not 
aid a man of another caste in distress, not even to 
save his life, for fear of becoming polluted. The 
Rev. J. Vaughan, a long-time resident of India, 
says : "I have again and again witnessed along the 
great pilgrim routes, poor creatures smitten with 
disease, lying on the roadside, passed by hundreds 
with no more concern than if they were dying dogs. 
I have seen poor, parched sufferers begging for 
water, all in vain. Thousands have thus perished 
unpitied along the crowded roads leading to the 
sacred shrines." The people are taught that it is 
defilement to touch or aid those of another caste, 
that persons of different castes are of different spe- 
cies, and thus it is caste, senseless, heathenish, 
brutal, that divides a people and dries up the 
springs of human sympathy. Oh, the horror and 
pity of it all ! 

Childhood marriages are another horrible curse. 
They fill the land with broken-down women, with 
puny children, and cause an overpopulation under 
which the country staggers and starves. But it is 
the custom, and In India custom is unchangeable 
and inexorable. I have spoken of our guide Ma- 
hommed. When we were at Benares, where he 
lived, he brought his children, four in number, to 
the hotel to see us. They were beautiful, bright- 
eyed, and attractive. The oldest was a boy of 
twelve and the second one a girl of nine years of 
age. Mahommed was proud of them, and he told 
us with evident pride that next year they were both 



INDIA 195 

to be married. Mrs. Taylor expostulated with 
him, and told him it was an outrage to allow such 
a thing, and his duty to prevent it. "Ah, 
Madame," he said, "you do not understand it; it 
is the custom in India. If I should not secure my 
children to be married when they are young, my 
friends would all desert me, and my neighbors and 
the members of my caste would say I was a bad 
man, and I could not live among them. Next year 
I give a great feast, I bring many people to my 
house, my children are married, and then my neigh- 
bors say 'Mahommed is a good man,' and they re- 
spect me." 

What can be said about such a condition of 
things ? Mahommed is an intelligent, conscientious 
man, proud of his family, and of his good name 
in the community. "It is the custom in India." 
That settles it. 

These early marriages, while they are held to be 
legal, are not always followed by an immediate 
living together of the married couple. But this 
follows all too soon, and you see many young girls, 
only children themselves, with babies of their own. 

As the country becomes exhausted population in- 
creases. There are more mouths to feed and less 
food to fill them. "What shall the harvest be?" 

It is possible that I take too gloomy a view of 
the physical conditions of India, owing to the fact 
that a widespread famine was prevailing through- 
out many districts through which I traveled. I 
confess that conditions looked deplorable and well- 
nigh hopeless. Nearly all the way from Calcutta 



196 TALES OF TRAVEL 

to Bombay, covering fifteen hundred to two thou- 
sand miles, evidences of drought and want were 
on all sides, and were most distressing. There had 
been little or no rain for many months, the usual 
summer rain having failed. The vast plains — for 
most of this section of the country is almost as level 
as the sea — looked like a desert. Most of the wells 
and streams were dry, the grass withered, the trees 
gray with dust, the fields untilled, and the people 
crouched by their little mud houses, in the parched 
fields, and along the dusty road, looking lean, hun- 
gry, and discouraged. In the villages and cities 
there was animation and life, but the great stretches 
of famine-stricken country were deplorable in their 
desolation. 

Southern India was in much better condition. 
There had been abundant rain, and the fields were 
green and the crops apparently fairly good. The 
people were more busy, although the average East 
Indian loves idleness, and had much rather beg 
than work. 

The English government has a splendid organ- 
ization by means of its army and civil officers, and 
was doing a great work to prevent starvation and 
suffering in the famine district. It was thought 
that the awful loss of life that had occurred in 
other famine years might that year be much re- 
duced. Some months before there were reports 
that the natives in some sections were growing reck- 
less and desperate, and it was feared that serious 
outbreaks might occur. We saw no signs of dis- 
order, and I do not believe that any extensive 



INDIA 197 

mutiny could be organized. The government has 
the control of affairs well in hand. The great 
mutiny of 1857 taught it a lesson it has not for- 
gotten. Now there are more white soldiers and 
more white officers in native regiments. The In- 
dian officers in each regiment are equally divided 
between Hindus and Mohammedans. These sects 
are implacable in their hostility to each other. 
They hate one another more than they hate the 
whites, and so there is no danger of their uniting 
in a conspiracy against the English. No artillery 
is in control of native regiments and they are pro- 
vided with only a few rounds of ammunition. 
Under such conditions and with the keen watchful- 
ness constantly exercised, it would hardly seem 
possible that a general mutiny could be organized. 
The English soldiers always keep their arms by 
them, even carrying their guns as they march into 
church. 

It is my opinion, not worth much, I confess, 
with my limited observations, that the British are 
in India to stay, and I think it is to the benefit of 
the native, even though there may be much injus- 
tice and many evils to be corrected. Should the 
British army be withdrawn or driven out, I believe 
the natives are so divided into castes and sects and 
classes that there would be constant warfare be- 
tween them, and that India would be given over 
to bloodshed and savagery. 



CEYLON 



CHAPTER XXXIV 

CEYLON — BEAUTIFUL COUNTRY — CHRISTMAS — IN- 
DIAN OCEAN AND RED SEA— ADEN— ARABIA- 
SUEZ CANAL. 

On the morning of December 22 we landed at 
Colombo, the principal city and capital of the 
Island of Ceylon. Ceylon is the prettiest, the most 
picturesque, as well as the most fertile country in 
the Orient. The change was to us a sudden and 
wonderful transformation. A sail of only one 
night, a narrow stretch of one hundred and fifty 
miles of sea, that separates barbaric and barren 
India from the brightness, fertility, and fragrance 
of Ceylon. It was from noise, from filth and 
heathenism, to the quiet and beauty and restfulness 
of enlightened life. 

We stopped at the Galle Face Hotel in Colombo, 
the best hotel in all the East, from Suez to Hono- 
lulu, more than fifteen thousand miles. How we 
did enjoy its luxurious hospitality! We spent 
Christmas there, and there were most appropriate 
and elaborate festivities. A beautiful Christmas 
tree in the dining-room, a delicious menu special to 
the occasion, music, feasting, dancing. The 
grounds are filled with palms, and were studded 
thick with many colored electric lights, while just 



CEYLON 199 

beyond the murmuring sea whispered its gentle 
music. The grounds were crowded with guests, 
and we ate and drank and talked of home and 
friends, and were happy. Oh, merry Christmas 
time! Its benedictions and good cheer, its sweet 
memories and happy reunions, bring joy and bless- 
ing to the home-comer and to the wanderer, and 
give new hope and happiness to civilized lives all 
around the world. 

We traveled up into the mountains to Kandy, 
one hundred miles or more, and the ride was most 
delightful. Kandy nestles around a little lake sur- 
rounded by mountains, tropical forests, and is a 
favorite resort with the white residents of Ceylon 
as a refuge from the heat. There is a noted bo- 
tanical garden near by, where grow many delicious 
spices and fruits. We saw spice, clove, nutmeg, 
cocaine, and many other noted trees. The nutmeg 
while on the tree looks like a yellow peach in the 
thick husk that encloses it. Cloves grow in clusters. 
They are deliciously spicy when matured, but 
green. We know now the force of the old hymn 
"From Ceylon's spicy breezes," etc. Mahogany 
trees of great size grow there, and vines and shrubs 
and flowers in the richest tropical luxuriance. 
There are many great tea plantations in Ceylon. 
Lipton, the great tea man, has many plantations 
there. Tea and the fiber of cocoanut are the lead- 
ing exports, although many spices and fruits and 
a great variety of precious stones go to make up 
its trade. 

The natives of Ceylon, called Cingalese, are of 



200 TALES OF TRAVEL 

higher order than most native residents of Oriental 
countries. They are dark, but more intelligent and 
active, cleaner and better dressed. The Tamils, 
who do most of the work, are of the coolie class 
who have come over from India. Colombo is one 
of the great shipping centers of the East. All the 
ships sailing to China, Japan, and Australia stop 
there. 

Sunday noon, December 29, we embarked on 
one of the imperial German mail steamers for the 
long voyage across the Indian Ocean and through 
the Red Sea to Port Said, Egypt, where the Suez 
Canal connects the earth's great Eastern and West- 
ern system of waterways. It is a long stretch 
of over four thousand miles. This trip is often, 
both in the spring, summer and fall, a rough, hot, 
and an altogether disagreeable one. The Indian 
Ocean is frequently tempestuous, the sport of the 
tempest and the typhoon. On the Red Sea the 
winds that blow from either side, across the deserts 
of Arabia or Africa, are hot and stifling, making 
life on shipboard uncomfortable and almost un- 
bearable. The captain told me he had many times 
been compelled to change the course of his ship 
to get some relief from the scorching winds. As 
it was midwinter when we crossed, we escaped both 
storm and heat, and had an exceedingly pleasant 
voyage. One of the most important and difficult 
problems the world traveler has to solve is how 
to arrange his schedule to best suit the widely 
varying climates of the countries he wishes to visit. 
Comfort and health both demand the exercise of 
great care in this respect. 



CEYLON 201 

On the sixth day out we sighted the shores of 
Africa, and a little later, across the narrow straits 
that separate the continents of Asia and Africa, we 
anchored at the Arab town of Aden, in Arabia. 
Aden has existed nobody knows how long. Its 
native residents, and there are few others, are Arab 
and African. They are a "low-down lot." We 
spent most of the day on shore. The sights of 
most interest are the wonderful water-tanks built 
in a gulch of the mountain, and used to store up 
water for the town, for it seldom rains there. 
There is no authentic history as to who constructed 
these tanks, but it is claimed that they are more 
than four thousand years old. They had long 
been filled up with the rocks and dirt of the moun- 
tain, but on recommendation of the governor of the 
province some years ago the English made a large 
appropriation to clean them out, and although now 
nearly empty they are in a condition for use. 

Our ship took on quite a cargo of Mocha coffee 
at Aden, consigned to New York, and we saw 
many caravans of camels coming into town from 
the mountains and the deserts, laden with various 
products. The town is strongly fortified and gar- 
risoned by the British, to control the mouth of the 
Red Sea. 

On the tenth day we sighted the ragged and 
sandy shores of Egypt, the land of the pyramids 
and the Pharaohs — of legend and romance and Sa- 
cred Writ, the land of history and mystery, where 
the yellow walls of the desert guard the secrets and 
hide the tragedies of the centuries. 



202 TALES OF TRAVEL 

I was much interested in the trip through the 
Suez Canal. It is a great thoroughfare, and there 
is a constant line of ships passing through it both 
ways. It is not wide enough for two large ships 
to pass, but there are frequent places where it is 
widened for the purpose. The digging of the 
canal must have been very easily done as compared 
with the work our government is doing at Panama. 
Most of the way it runs through a strictly desert 
country, and all the excavation is of sand. Ships 
are compelled to run very slowly, — as I remember, 
not to exceed six miles an hour, — so that the waves 
created will not too greatly wash down the sandy 
banks. It takes constant dredging to maintain the 
required depth of water, as the sand is continually 
caving in from the banks and blowing in from 
the desert. The rates of toll are extremely high, 
and the revenues must be enormous. It is owned 
and operated by an English corporation, and I 
was told that King Edward is the heaviest stock- 
holder. The ride through the canal, when the 
weather is not too hot, is very pleasant. There are 
numerous stations established for the uses of the 
canal company, where there are irrigation works. 
Here trees have grown, and there are fruits and 
fields of grain, and flowers. These little oases in 
the deserts are delightful. 

We were shown the spot on the Red Sea where 
legend says the Children of Israel crossed from 
Egypt to the Promised Land, and there came to me 
the thrilling Bible story, so often told in my boy- 
hood days, as to how the waters of the sea rolled 



CEYLON 203 

back and the Children of Israel went over dry 
shod, but the hosts of Pharaoh were overwhelmed 
as the walls of water gave way and the sea closed 
up. Thus was the youthful mind impressed with 
the fact sought to be conveyed that the good are 
protected and the wicked punished. Would it 
were always so ! 

The travel, since we left Hong Kong and China, 
some months previous, had been quite rapid, as we 
dared not risk too much time in the heat and gen- 
eral discomforts and privations of the tropics. But 
the days were extremely interesting, as well as ex- 
tremely wearisome. The swiftly changing scenes, 
the new and wonderful countries, the strange 
people, the solitude and silence of ruins and 
forests and jungles, the /uproar and strife of cities, 
the glamour of tropical seas and the glories of sun- 
sets, all combined to make the trip profitable and 
interesting. 

We arrived at Port Said January 9, and pro- 
ceeded at once to Cairo, four hours distant by rail. 
Cairo is a wonderful city, in the character of its 
residents, its institutions, both ancient and modern, 
its history, and the extent of its business and the 
brilliancy of its social life. I shall have more to 
say about it later. 



CHAPTER XXXV 

LIFE IN THE ORIENT— TWO SIDES TO THE PICTURE. 

Now that I have completed the circuit of the globe 
and am again at home, and my experiences in the 
tropical countries are of the things of the past, 
what is my opinion of the tropics — the country, 
the climate, the conditions, the people? Well, to 
put in a nutshell, I admire the beauty of the coun- 
try, detest the climate, deplore the conditions, and 
pity the people. 

The men and women who with pen or paint have 
drawn the delightful and enticing pictures of "life 
in the Orient" should be suppressed and punished. 
Their descriptions and scenes are a delusion and a 
snare. They show only the comfort and charm, 
and conceal all that is disagreeable and repellant. 
There is a sort of lazy luxury, a soft halo, an easy 
and careless abandon, that surrounds and influences 
Oriental life that is restful and alluring. The lux- 
uriance of vegetation, the brightness of flowers, 
the wealth of fruit, delight the eye, and the languid 
air lulls to repose. The level landscapes are pleas- 
ing, the mountains picturesque, and the stately 
palms wave a constant welcome. All this is attrac- 
tive, and brings something of sensual delight. But 
there is another side to the picture. The country, 
while beautiful, is not healthful, fof its climate is 
hot, exhausting, and depressing. The sun scorches 



CEYLON 205 

and kills, the air is heavy, and there are exhaustion 
and fever in its breath. The flowers are bright, 
but without fragrance. The insects and reptiles 
sting and bite and crawl over and around you night 
and day, always and everywhere. Monsoons and 
typhoons work devastation and death on land and 
sea, and in many places deadly snakes and wild 
beasts from the jungles prey on human life. 

Aside from the annoyances and perils and dis- 
eases incident to Oriental life, there is the undis- 
puted fact that climatic influences render the people 
indolent and worthless. Everything depresses and 
nothing stimulates. And so the ages have shown 
no improvement. The natives in general are no 
better off than they were thousands of years ago. 
In every temperate or semi-tropical zone there are 
evidences of progress. In Japan the people are 
employing better methods, getting higher wages, 
and gradually raising the standards of living. In 
China the people are energetic and industrious, 
and, if properly governed and encouraged, would 
show improved conditions. In the tropics proper 
there is no evidence of any desire for change. The 
people are content with their ignorance and pov- 
erty, and continue, and apparently always will con- 
tinue, to cherish their superstitions and live on, as 
easily as they may, their lazy and worthless lives. 

As to the white residents in the tropics, very- 
few of whom are Americans, I do not hold a very- 
high opinion. I cannot understand how men or 
women with any energy or ambition, who have any 
just appreciation of those things which make life 



206 TALES OF TRAVEL 

most desirable, can content themselves with the 
simple existence they experience there. They are 
out of the world. They leave home and friends 
and all the inspiring and ennobling influences of 
civilization behind them. They have little of so- 
ciety, nothing practically of music, art, literature, 
news. No theaters, lectures, few churches, papers, 
magazines, or books. The fact is that the climate 
and environment render stagnant the brain as well 
as the body, and all the higher and better life is 
dwarfed, and only the sensual enjoyed. Think of 
the daily routine, say in Java, and the same is true 
all through the tropics. The women do practically 
nothing. All is left to the native servants, who are 
numerous and receive only a pittance. The women 
lie in bed, or loll about in scanty costumes all day, 
often appearing at table, even in the hotels, in only 
a "sarong," a wide piece of light cloth wound 
about the waist and reaching to the ankles, and a 
light sacque. The ankles are bare and on the soles 
of the feet are sandals. The men, both in the 
countries and the cities, attend to business for a 
short time in the morning and evening, and the rest 
of the day lie about under the trees or on the ver- 
andas in their pajamas and barefooted. The stores, 
shops, and offices close at 10 A. M. and open at 4 
P. M. How would a wideawake, ambitious, hus- 
tling American endure this kind of life? He could 
not stand it. But this is "life in the Orient," about 
which we have read and dreamed and wondered. 
Please excuse me. 

One of the alarming features of the tropics, 



CEYLON 207 

more than climate, storm, or pestilence, is the dense 
and increasing population. Fertile as is the soil, 
luxurious the vegetation, abundant the products, 
there is one crop that is more abundant and certain 
than all others — it is the crop of babies. Famine, 
pestilence, or plague does not seem to destroy or 
deplete it. As you travel about these tropical and 
Far Eastern countries you are amazed at the num- 
ber of babies, present and prospective. They 
swarm everywhere, in the houses, on the streets, 
over the fields, millions of them. They are said 
to be usually born singly; one would think from 
their numbers that they must come in litters. How 
it would gladden the heart of our beloved and 
child-loving Roosevelt to see them ! 



AFRICA 



CHAPTER XXXVI 

AFRICA— ALGIERS — BOAR HUNT — TUNIS — ANCIENT 
CARTHAGE— "HOME, SWEET HOME." 

As our visit to Africa on the trip of which we are 
writing was confined mainly to the principal cities 
of Egypt and up the Nile as far as Assuan, I am 
constrained to insert a chapter here giving some of 
my experiences on a trip I made in northern Africa 
some years ago. 

I crossed the Mediterranean from Marseilles, 
France, to Algiers. As you approach Algiers from 
the sea it presents a beautiful and very striking ap- 
pearance. The buildings are nearly all white and 
hanging singly and in clusters on the hillside, ap- 
pearing at a distance like a series of great snow- 
banks. It is quite an important city in its history 
and in its present business. The city has a large 
foreign element, and is unique in that it does not 
resemble most African and Oriental cities. It is 
a favorite winter resort, especially for the English, 
though a good many Americans visit there. There 
were no railroads, except one short one when I was 
there, and I was compelled to travel inland on foot 
or on donkeys. There were steamers plying 
around the coast. 
In my younger days I was something of a hunter, 



AFRICA 209 

or thought I was, and I had a great ambition, such 
as our brave Roosevelt now has, to slay some of 
the wild beasts in the African forests. One day I 
arrived at Phillipville, a small town on the coast, 
and was told that there were many wild boars on 
the mountain just back of the town. I had never 
seen wild boars outside of a cage and did not greatly 
fancy their looks or reputation. However, my 
sporting instinct was aroused, and so I added a 
little to my equipment and started bravely out bent 
on slaughter. The narrow paths were steep and 
rocky and through heavy underbrush. I noticed 
with considerable satisfaction that there were a 
good many small trees scattered about, although I 
refused to entertain the idea that I might, in some 
emergency, have use for one of them. As I 
trudged along I involuntarily started sharply if I 
heard a noise in the bushes near by. Of course I 
was not frightened, only on the alert — nothing to 
be scared at. Suddenly as I made a sharp turn in 
the path I was confronted by a stalwart English- 
man, in full hunting rig and a gun across his 
shoulder. We both stopped and spoke. I saw 
that his trousers were ripped from just below the 
hip down and that there was blood on them. I 
asked if he had met with an accident. He said, 
"No; but a brute of a boar I had shot at gave me 
a beastly turn, you know." I offered to assist him, 
but he said he had only just a slight scratch. He 
then told me that back on the mountain a mile or 
so he met a boar and had shot at him, and, he 
thought, wounded him. The boar charged on 

14 



2 1 o TALES OF TRAVEL 

him and he started for a tree, and just as he reached 
it the boar dashed by, giving him a thrust in the 
leg. Pie said he went up the tree and the boar 
went on down the hill. He stayed up the tree a 
little while until all was quiet and then he came 
down and started for the town. 

I told him I was hunting boars and thought I 
would go on until I got one. But after he left me 
I did not go far. I sat down near a friendly tree 
to think it over. I came to the very early conclu- 
sion that it was foolish for me to tire myself out 
climbing that mountain. Supposing I did get a 
boar or two, what could I do with them? You 
know I had not thought of that before. No, I had 
no use for boars. And so I started back at a rather 
brisk pace until I overtook the Englishman, and 
we returned to town together. I did not find any 
further time for hunting in Africa. I hope the 
sporty and intrepid Roosevelt, when he gets into 
the African jungles, won't conclude that he has no 
use for "big game," and retreat ingloriously, as I 
did. But then he will have plenty of company, 
and the trees are very numerous in the forests 
where he is to hunt. 

I traveled for many days in Africa — climbing 
its mountains, crossing its deserts, and struggling 
through its tangled woods. At last I stood upon 
the historic heights of ancient Carthage, that great 
city which was once the mistress of the seas and the 
commercial center of the world, and the blue wa- 
ters of the Mediterranean Sea and the green walls 
of the circling hills surrounded me. From where 



AFRICA 211 

I stood I could look down upon valleys and plains 
as bright and beautiful as any under the sun. 
There had grazed the herds and rustled the har- 
vests that supported one of the most populous and 
powerful nations of ancient times; there genera- 
tions had lived and labored, loved and died. But 
I saw no fertile fields, or fruitful orchards or happy 
homes. All around was waste, and desolation, and 
decay. There was only falling walls and crum- 
bling columns, and broken arches to tell the sad 
story of the long gone years. Wild flowers blos- 
somed and rank weeds ripened amid the ruins 
of palatial homes, and the wandering Arab pitched 
his moving tent and pastured his scrawny flocks 
where had stood temples and palaces and marts 
of trade. 

All know how Carthage fell. How the Ro- 
mans became jealous of her increasing agriculture 
and widening commerce, and brought about her 
destruction. History relates no more cruel story 
than how Cato, the Roman Senator, who in the 
garb of a spy had explored the land; returning, 
went into the Senate, and holding up before the 
excited Senators and people a branch of figs of 
remarkable size, said, "Three days ago I plucked 
this branch from the fertile plains of Carthage." 
He then depicted in glowing terms the marvelous 
fertility and resources of the country and the grow- 
ing prosperity of the people, and concluded with 
that memorable and most brutal of utterances, 
"Carthage must be destroyed." 

And now in all that beautiful region of sunny 



2 1 2 TALES OF TRAVEL 

skies, and balmy air, and fruitful soil reigns the 
idleness and desolation of barbarism. In travel- 
ing miles you will not see a dozen acres under culti- 
vation, and what little farming there is done is of 
the crudest and most primitive sort. You will oc- 
casionally see an Arab, with a camel hitched to a 
crooked stick, trying to dig up a little soil where he 
may plant a few seeds. This is their plowing. 
They have very few farming tools, these mainly of 
wood, heavy and awkward; there are no wagons 
or carts, all the transportation being done on the 
backs of donkeys or camels. Some vegetables are 
raised, and upon these and the native fruits the 
people mainly live. 

It is this spirit of envy and jealousy and wicked 
ambition, voiced in the Roman Senate so long ago, 
that has brought so much of death and destruction 
to the world. Fear of competition, lust for gain, 
ambition for power — these have waged the wars 
that have sacrificed life, wasted property, blotted 
out civilization and installed savagery in so many 
countries that were once prosperous, powerful and 
enlightened. One cannot travel widely and wit- 
ness the evidences of former greatness and pros- 
perity — where have flourished great empires filled 
with wealth and luxury and art and now there is to 
be seen only poverty, desolation and savage life — 
without being impressed and alarmed with the idea 
that the future may hold in store for us and the 
other civilized nations the same sad fate that has 
overthrown and covered with desolation the mighty 
empires of ancient times, much more populous 



AFRICA 213 

and powerful than we, and left only ruins and 
legends to tell of their former greatness. 

Oh, the horrors of war! How they sacrifice 
life, destroy property and hinder progress ! Would 
that all the civilized nations might speedily com- 
bine to preserve peace ! Then the awful history of 
the past could never be repeated, and the march of 
progress would go on forever. 

I spent two weeks at Tunis, one of the most in- 
teresting of African cities. At that time there was 
very little of the modern there. Almost everything 
was distinctly ancient and Oriental. There were 
many mosques, but no post-office. Considerable 
wealth, but very little comfort. There was not a 
street that bore either a name or a number, but 
narrow alleys mainly, or paths winding among the 
buildings, and the stranger who attempted to 
travel them would speedily become as hopelessly 
lost as though he were in a trackless jungle. I met 
with numerous novel experiences there, but I will 
relate but one or two. 

The Tunisian women, especially the younger 
ones, are reputed to be the handsomest women in 
the world, and the numerous photographs of them 
on sale would go to sustain the statement. I antici- 
pated much pleasure before I reached there, in 
gazing upon their fascinating features. Imagine 
then, if you can, my disappointment and disgust, 
to find that all the native women appearing upon 
the street had their faces closely covered, showing 
only the eyes, which served but to tantalize and ex- 
cite curiosity. I wandered about the streets and 



2 1 4 TALES OF TRAVEL 

shops and mosques, hoping to somewhere get sight 
of a woman's face, but all to no purpose. Finally 
one day, through the courtesy of the British Min- 
ister, Mr. Reed, I received an invitation to a high- 
class native wedding. I was delighted, and had 
new faith in the proverb that "all things come to 
him who waits." I reported at the time and place, 
was shown into a large room where were two or 
three dozen natives, and three Englishmen, and 
was invited to take a seat upon the floor with the 
other guests. We were then served with cakes, 
confections, cigarettes, coffee and champagne. We 
ate and drank, chatted and smoked, waiting im- 
patiently to be summoned to witness the ceremony. 
I think we were kept there nearly, if not quite, an 
hour and a half, when a door opened and we were 
informed that the ceremony and festivities were 
all over. What do you think of that? We did 
not see the bride, groom, priest, or any of the at- 
tendants, male or female. The next day I left 
Tunis for Tripoli. 

Another interesting experience at Tunis was a 
trip out into the country about seven miles to visit 
the Bey, the ruler of Tunis, at his summer palace. 
I was accompanied by a dragoman, who had been 
long connected with the American consulate, and 
who spoke English fluently. I will not recite at 
length the ceremonies of presentation. I was 
promptly admitted, passed through, in entering the 
audience room, three lines of heavy portieres, ad- 
vanced a few steps to a crack in the floor, gave a 
low and solemn salaam, advanced to another and 



AFRICA 2is 

salaamed again, and stood there while I had a con- 
versation with the Bey through my interpreter, 
who stood at my side. I was dismissed, salaamed 
a farewell, and then backed out from the august 
presence. 

What most interested me, however, was a story 
told to me by the dragoman on the way back to 
the city. I saw a large stone tower, partly in ruins, 
near the road, and asked the dragoman what it had 
been used for. He told me that in ancient times, 
in the province of Tunis, it had been the custom to 
build towers (such as are spoken of in the Bible), 
"towers of refuge" where criminals of any sort 
were free from arrest, if they could escape from 
their pursuers and get into the tower. On one oc- 
casion a man in the vicinity committed a horrible 
crime, or series of crimes, murdering a large num- 
ber of his neighbors. He escaped arrest and got 
into the "tower of refuge," where he could not be 
arrested, but could remain — his friends furnishing 
him with supplies — until such time as he could 
escape. The crime was such an awful one that it 
aroused the whole community, and a committee was 
selected to visit the Bey and ask him in the name 
of justice and of public safety to suspend the law, 
and allow a committee to enter the tower to take 
out the criminal and execute him. The Bey is an 
absolute sovereign — he makes, interprets and exe- 
cutes the laws. He listened patiently to the elo- 
quent pleas of the committee and when they ended 
he said solemnly and sternly, "No ! He who makes 
the law can't break the law." Then after a little 



2 1 6 TALES OF TRAVEL 

hesitation, he said, "But I know of nothing in the 
law to prevent you from walling up the doors and 
windows of the tower, if you choose to do so!" 
This was done, and the criminal starved to death 
for his crimes. Some of that sort of justice would 
be useful among civilized nations in these latter 
days. 

One of the principal objects of interest at Tunis 
is the burial place of John Howard Payne, author 
of "Home, Sweet Home," who died there while 
serving his country as United States consul. His 
remains now lie in his own country, at Washing- 
ton. Under orders from the government I had 
them exhumed and shipped to his native land. But 
now not only Americans, but travelers from every 
land, visit his empty grave at Tunis, to pay homage 
to the author of that dear song whose gentle music 
has made melody in all the earth — a song as fresh 
and sweet to-day as when its tender strains first 
touched the charmed air. "Home, Sweet Home," 
a song that has been sung in every civilized tongue 
and nation in all the world — sung by lonely wan- 
derers in foreign lands, in peaceful homes where 
safety dwells with joy, and on fields of bloody 
strife, where brave men march to death. "Home, 
Sweet Home." It voices a universal sentiment of 
humanity that makes kindred of us all. 



HOLY LAND— EGYPT— TURKEY 



CHAPTER XXXVII 

TO THE HOLY LAND— DISAGREEABLE SEA TRIP- 
JERUSALEM— JERICHO— BETHLEHEM— THE DEAD 
SEA. 

Five days after arriving at Cairo we made up a 
party of ten acquaintances and started for Pales- 
tine. To reach there we returned to Port Said, and 
sailed from there to Jaffa. The trip across the 
Mediterranean, although a short one of twelve 
hours, we found terribly disagreeable. We crossed 
on a Russian ship, small and poorly equipped. 
There is no harbor at Jaffa, the landing being 
from small boats, as the coast is extremely rocky 
and dangerous. On our arrival the sea was so 
rough that small boats would not come out to take 
us off, as they could not live in the heavy surf. For 
nearly thirty hours we "rocked in the cradle of 
the deep" before an attempt was made to land. 
We got ashore without serious mishap, but there 
were some bruises to nurse and many seasick vic- 
tims to recuperate. As we filed into the custom 
house one of the officers said to another, "My God, 
what a sick looking crowd!" And he was right 
about it. It seems unaccountable that where there 
is such a volume of travel as there is to the Holy 
Land that the facilities for getting there should be 



2 1 8 TALES OF TRAVEL 

so distressingly poor. But everything here is under 
Turkish rule, which is notorious for its inefficiency 
and rottenness. 

It is between four and five hours' ride by rail 
from Jaffa to Jerusalem. For a short distance the 
land is under excellent cultivation, and all around 
are fields of grain and vegetables and wonderful 
orange orchards. By the way, the oranges in Pal- 
estine, in such sections as they will grow, are finer 
in flavor and average larger in size than any I have 
ever seen in California, Florida or Cuba. We had 
headquarters at Jerusalem, making excursions by 
carriage to Jericho, the River Jordan, the Dead 
Sea, Bethlehem, Bethany, Hebron, the Mount of 
Olives, and other places. All these places have 
been described so often and so well that I will not 
attempt detail. Our visit to the Jordan was 
especially interesting, as it was the time of the 
Epiphany, and many thousands of Greek and Rus- 
sian pilgrims were visiting there to wash away their 
ills and sins in the holy waters of the Jordan. It 
was a marvelous sight — ludicrous, heathenish, or 
impressive, as it might strike the beholder. There 
was much of pomp and of poverty — the governor 
of Palestine and his staff, blazing in gold leaf, 
priests and bishops and patriarchs in silken robes, 
pilgrims ragged and dirty and sore with travel. 
The functionaries of church and state went out on 
the river in a boat, while the shores as far as one 
could see were lined with pilgrims waiting for the 
signal to bathe. The rites were read, the patriarch 
immersed the cross in the water, to sanctify it, the 



HOLY LAND-EGYPT-TURKEY 219 

signal was given by a general discharge of guns, 
and the faithful plunged into the cold and muddy 
waters, while the patriarch was rowed up and 
down the stream sprinkling with a bunch of boughs 
the multitude, and bestowing his blessing. I do 
not believe that in all the world there is such a 
sight. Thousands of men and women of all ages 
and conditions sitting stark naked on the shores, 
putting on their white robes, immersing themselves 
and then coming out and taking off their robes 
and dressing. There was no effort to conceal 
their nakedness, no embarrassment at the presence 
of strangers, and yet I am sure that there was no 
thought of immodesty. It was a holy function, 
and all were in such a state of religious exaltation 
as to preclude any suggestion of impropriety. But 
it was fanatical and heathenish all the same, though 
done in the name of Christianity. For blind zeal 
and flagrant vulgarity, it surpassed anything I have 
ever seen in the rites of heathendom. 

I was much disappointed in the "Plains of Jeri- 
cho." I had pictured them as green, with grow- 
ing grains and fields and flowers, and grazing 
flocks. Instead they are a barren desert, which is 
irrigated and tilled only on a very small scale. 
Old Jericho, the first city captured by the Israel- 
ites on their entrance to the Promised Land, 
where the Bible tells us they marched around the 
city and blew their horns until the walls fell (I 
believe that is the story) , has wholly disappeared, 
showing only a few ruins that have been excavated. 
Here we saw "Elisha's fountain," and the moun- 



220 TALES OF TRAVEL 

tain to the top of which Satan took Christ and of- 
fered him a lot of real estate he did not own, if he 
would follow him; and Christ said, what his de- 
voted followers have been saying ever since, "Get 
thee behind me, Satan." 

The Dead Sea is near by Jericho, in whose wa- 
ters and on whose shores there is no living thing. 
It is the lowest body of water, and the land around 
it is the lowest of any land, in the world. The 
heat is so extreme there in the summer that neither 
man nor beast can endure it. 

Usually the deserts are sandy, but this one 
about the Dead Sea, and stretching from the foot 
of the mountains to the shores of the Jordan, has 
the stickiest clay soil I have ever seen. Traveling 
on foot or by team is almost impossible. The mud 
will adhere to shoes and overshoes in such quanti- 
ties as to pull them right off the feet. Neither 
horses, donkeys, nor camels can travel except by the 
utmost effort. At the Jordan the Arab servants 
took the ladies astride their backs to carry them 
from the carriages to the platforms. 

The road between Jericho and Jerusalem, some 
twenty odd miles, runs nearly all the way up and 
down mountains, rocky and barren. This stretch 
of country is known as "the Wilderness of Ju- 
dea." Jerusalem is built literally upon a rock, or 
upon a series of rocky mountains. Its streets are 
steep, rough, narrow, crooked, and dirty. Its 
buildings, except those of modern construction, and 
the temples, churches, mosques, etc., are small and 
poor. It contains a great conglomeration of 



HOLY LAND-EGYPT-TURKEY 221 

people, mostly of the poorer class, and paupers and 
cripples and beggars are present everywhere. 
About half the population are Jews, mostly from 
Russia, and the other half is made up of Arabs, 
Syrians, Egyptians, Abyssinians, with a sprinkling 
of French, German, English and American. There 
is what is called the "American colony," number- 
ing over one hundred, and conducted on the co- 
operative plan. Its members are mainly religion- 
ists of various sects, who have been attracted to 
Jerusalem on account of its religious history. We 
were invited there to tea, and found the members 
of the colony to be pleasant people, living together 
in entire harmony, contented and happy. We vis- 
ited Bethlehem, and were shown the spot where 
we were told stood the stable in which Christ was 
born. In Jerusalem we visited the temple of the 
Holy Sepulcher, and saw the spot where stood the 
cross on which Christ was crucified; the tomb 
where he was buried and the angel rolled away the 
stone at his resurrection; the Temple of Solomon, 
where Christ preached and drove out the money- 
changers; the hall of the Last Supper; the Gar- 
den of Gethsemane; the Mount of Olives; the 
Pool of Siloam; Bethany, where Mary and 
Martha and Lazarus lived, and Christ visited 
them; Hebron, where Abraham and Sarah are 
buried; and many other places mentioned in Bib- 
lfcal history. 

Well, what of it all? Many skeptical and crit- 
ical people tell us that we are imposed upon, that 
nobody knows precisely where Christ was born, 



222 TALES OF TRAVEL 

crucified or was buried, or where man}' of the his- 
toric incidents given in the Bible occurred. Per- 
haps so, but who should care for that? I am sure 
I do not. It matters little or nothing whether we 
gaze upon the identical spots or not where trans- 
pired these great events of early Christendom. 
We do know that in Palestine, at or near Jerusa- 
lem, there was born a personage named Jesus 
Christ, who preached a new doctrine, was crucified 
and buried, and whose precepts form a moral code 
the like of which has never been promulgated; and 
whose life and teachings, wherever and whenever 
followed, have founded the highest civilization and 
inspired the best citizenship. We do know that 
this wonderful Personage, be he human or divine, 
whether born of a virgin or not, whether he did 
or did not work real miracles, whether his life and 
death were an atonement for sin or an inspiration 
to a better life, "spake as never man spake" ; that 
he was reviled and persecuted and crucified; and 
that the Cross upon which he died for his faith and 
teachings has been illumined and hallowed forever 
more; and that countless millions from all Chris- 
tendom have gazed upon it with faith and hope, 
and their troubled hearts found consolation and 
that "peace that passeth all understanding." 

From Palestine we returned to Jaffa and sailed 
for Egypt on the same miserable line of Russian 
steamers by which we went over. The second 
ship was a poorer one than the first, and the trip 
altogether disagreeable. But along with the gen- 
eral discomforts, and tending to dispel the gloom 



HOLY LAND-EGYPT-TURKEY 223 

that prevailed on board, one funny incident oc- 
curred at the expense of the writer hereof. The 
weather had been raw and wet, and being out of 
doors most of the time, I had suffered considerably 
with cold feet. My wife suggested that I put on 
two pairs of stockings, which I did, and found my- 
self much more comfortable. On the night we left 
Jaffa, on account of the crowded ship, quite a num- 
ber of gentlemen, including myself, were crowded 
into one room. As we retired and proceeded to 
disrobe, I discovered, as I took off my shoes, that 
I had only one stocking on one of my feet. I was 
filled with disgust. I called attention to my con- 
dition and made strong remarks bemoaning my 
loss and was accorded some sympathy and consid- 
erable chaffing. I then turned my attention to my 
other foot, and lo ! on that I had three stockings ! 
The uproar that followed so disturbed the passen- 
gers in near-by rooms, that a steward was sent to 
request less noise in our quarters. 

After our return to Cairo we remained there 
until February 8, and then started on a trip up 
the Nile. 



CHAPTER XXXVIII 

UP THE NILE— THE OLD DAYS— GIGANTIC RUINS- 
DONKEY BOYS — LUXOR — ASSUAM — PAST AND 
PRESENT. 

If its full history could be written it would prob- 
ably be found that more great events have tran- 
spired along the shores of the Nile than on the 
banks of any other great river in the world. But 
the whole marvelous story will never be told. It 
is forever hidden by the darkness and decay of 
more than three score centuries. The ages have 
left their mighty landmarks in pillars and pyra- 
mids, in tombs and temples, in statues and obelisks 
of granite and marble, covered with many signs, 
tokens, inscriptions, and languages, but no man can 
accurately translate the mysterious and magical 
stories that they tell. That there was a dense 
population and fruitful regions where now are only 
desert wastes and desolation is certain. That there 
must have been "giants in those days," wealth, 
genius, methods of transportation and construction, 
arts and industries, unknown to these times, these 
colossal ruins unmistakably demonstrate. These 
mighty monuments have battled with the destruc- 
tive forces of nature more than six thousand years, 
and though scarred and marred, and often fallen 
and broken, they bear indisputable witness as to the 
glories and wonders of the long gone ages. 

The Nile is between three thousand and four 



HOLY LAND-EGYPT-TURKEY 225 

thousand miles in length. It rises a few degrees 
south of the equator and empties into the Medi- 
terranean Sea at Alexandria, Egypt. One of the 
remarkable things about it is the regularity with 
which it rises and recedes. This allows the tillers 
of the soil to arrange their work so as to reap the 
fullest advantages from the irrigation which gives 
to the desert lands all their fertility. The Nile is 
the chief physical characteristic of Egypt, and as 
such it has excited the surprise, wonder, and rever- 
ence of the countless generations. No animal or 
human life could exist save for its surplus waters 
used to irrigate and enrich the barren soil. The 
"delta of the Nile" has been for more years than 
the chronicles of Egypt number the richest stretch 
of land on earth. Without it Egypt would have 
been a desert wholly uninhabited. Now there are 
produced splendid crops of corn, wheat, cotton, 
sugar cane, alfalfa, and many vegetables, and much 
live stock. The cotton grown is of the finest 
quality and brings much higher prices in the mar- 
kets of the world than does the cotton grown in 
our country. 

The lower river is not especially interesting, and 
as the boats run slowly up the stream, we took 
the cars as far up as Assuit and back, and so saved 
a few days on the trip. Assuit is quite a pleasant 
little town, but has few historic or other attractions. 
Here, and I believe nowhere else in the world, 
are manufactured the spangled shawls and Egyp- 
tian scarfs called "Copt scarfs," named after the 
class or sect or tribe making them. They are of 

is 



226 TALES OF TRAVEL 

various colors, mainly black and white, spangled 
with gold and silver. How the ladies did rave 
over and purchase them ! It is no wonder. They 
are very rich and dressy, and are sold surprisingly 
cheap. 

But what attracts the many thousands of travel- 
ers who annually visit Egypt is not found in the 
scenery, the soil, climate, or people. It is the num- 
ber, vastness, and mystery of the curious and 
colossal ruins which are found on the banks of the 
Nile, and that prove that in no age or country of 
which we have reliable record have there lived 
men of greater achievements or been those who 
have left behind them more wonderful, prodigious, 
and lasting monuments. 

I can give no detailed descriptions of any of 
these great ruins, and can name but few of them. 
The historical museums of every country are filled 
with relics from these ruins, and all scientific li- 
braries contain many interesting volumes written 
by learned Egyptologists who have spent many 
years in studying Nile antiquities. We were up 
the river six hundred miles from Cairo, taking 
two weeks to make the trip. The boats on the 
river, of which there are many, are quite comfort- 
able, and the ride up and down, watching the 
people and their doings along the shore, exceed- 
ingly interesting. It is a living panorama of life 
and labor, of fields of grain and grazing flocks, 
caravans of donkeys and camels, of groves of palms 
and mountain ranges yellow with the sands of the 
desert. The boats stop wherever there are the 



HOLY LANB-EGYPT-TURKEY 227 

most interesting ruins, and as many of them are 
some distance from the river, donkeys are in readi- 
ness to carry all the sightseers to the places of in- 
terest. There were sixty odd passengers on our 
boat, old and young, tall and short, lean and fat, 
dressed in all sorts of traveling rigs; and to see 
them mounted on the donkeys of all colors and 
sizes, driven by the ragged and noisy donkey boys, 
was about as ludicrous and grotesque a sight, as 
they filed over the hills and across the deserts, as 
can be imagined. The writer, known to be digni- 
fied, reticent, and sedate, was often moved to such 
hilarity and language as to create confusion in the 
procession and render his position on the donkey's 
back alarmingly insecure. 

The "donkey boys" range in ages from fifteen 
to seventy-five years, but they are all called "boys," 
and they are an interesting and funny lot. They 
sing, dance, and cut up all sorts of absurd antics, 
hoping by their pranks to amuse their customers 
and increase the amount of their "bakshish," — that 
is, their pay. They are cute in guessing and pan- 
dering to the nationality of the persons riding their 
donkeys. If an Englishman is riding they call his 
donkey King Edward, Victoria, or some other dis- 
tinguished English name. If a German is riding, 
the donkey is called the Kaiser, or Bismarck, or 
Moltke. If they have an American party the 
donkeys are named Teddy, McKinley, Yankee 
Doodle, Hail Columbia, Whisky Straight, etc. 
They are a dirty, noisy, hungry, but decidedly 
funny lot. 



228 TALES OF TRAVEL 

The first great ruins on the Nile above Cairo are 
at the old and buried city of Memphis, and at 
Sakkarah close by. Here is a colossal statue of 
Rameses II., in black marble, forty-five feet in 
length. For fifteen miles north and south, on 
a strip several hundred feet wide, are scattered 
ancient pyramids and monuments. The "sacred 
bulls of Memphis," which the Egyptians used to 
worship, are buried here in caves excavated from 
the solid rocks. The caves extend into the ground 
twelve hundred feet, are ten feet wide, and eigh- 
teen feet high. In niches on each side of the main 
passage are coffins or sarcophagi, of red or black 
granite, in which the bulls were placed. Each 
sarcophagus is thirteen feet long, eight feet wide, 
and twelve feet high, and was cut out of one block 
of granite. And of such is the kingdom of 
heathendom. Millions of money, years of labor, 
thousands of lives sacrificed, in constructing burial 
places for bulls. What do you think of it? 

By far the most interesting place on the river is 
Luxor, a small town built on the site of ancient 
Thebes, one of the oldest, largest, and most remark- 
able cities of ancient times. Thebes occupies both 
sides of the river and the excavations made show 
that it was more than twelve miles around it. In 
all parts of the city are wonderful ruins of old 
tombs and temples. How many there were nobody 
knows, as the excavations made cover only a small 
part of the city. The most remarkable temple un- 
covered is Karnak, the greatest of all the wonder- 
ful temples of Egypt. It was nearly three thou- 



HOLY LAND-EGYPT-TURKEY 229 

sand years in building. It is now one of the most 
interesting and colossal ruins in the world. We 
visited Karnak twice, but its wonders are of such 
varied interest as to bewilder the beholder, and we 
cannot appreciate, much less describe it. 

Across the river from Karnak, and some three 
or four miles back from the shore, is a great, tor- 
tuous, desolate gulch of the mountains, in which are 
the famous "Tombs of the Kings." These tombs, 
vast and gloomy, are hewn out of the solid rock. 
They are dimly lighted by electric lights, and you 
go down, down, down, until you feel as though 
you would never get out again, and there you find 
the sarcophagi and the mummies of the kings, 
where they have lain thousands of years. All 
around on the walls are paintings, sculptures, and 
inscriptions. And so, wander where you will, for 
miles around, you find these marvelous relics that 
tell of the age and glory and greatness of early 
Egypt. 

We went up the river to Assuan, where is the 
first cataract, and which is as far up as most tour- 
ists go. Here the valley narrows and the river 
is hemmed in by solid granite walls. This is a 
great resort for invalids. There is no rain, and it 
is said to be the most healthful place in the East. 
A great dam has been built here and it is to be 
raised still higher. It regulates the flow of the 
Nile in all lower Egypt. It is a marvel of engin- 
eering enterprise and skill. Upon the mainten- 
ance and proper operation of this dam depends the 
prosperity of all the people living between Assuan 



2 3 o TALES OF TRAVEL 

and the sea. When we look upon this, one of the 
greatest of modern enterprises, and compare it 
with the ancient tombs and temples, and palaces, 
we can realize, if we will stop to think about it, 
what progress the world is making in humane and 
enlightened government. Sir William Wilcox, 
the engineer of this great dam, whom we subse- 
quently met, told us of the rejoicing of the people 
at its completion, when its waters began to spread 
their fertility over the sandy soil, causing it to 
blossom and bear fruit. He said that wherever 
he traveled, and it was known that he was coming, 
the people met him at the entrance of their villages, 
bringing their best animals for him to ride, and, 
placing a crown upon his head, went before him 
into the towns waving palm branches and doing 
their utmost to show their delight and appreciation. 
In the old days the rulers built only for their own 
glory and aggrandizement, with little thought or 
care for the masses and their subjects. To-day 
governments build to promote the public good and 
bring benefits to all the people. Here lies the 
essential difference between the old and the new, 
between barbarism and civilization. 

The pyramids have been described so often and 
so fully that I make only brief mention of them. 
There are many scattered over the desert, of vary- 
ing sizes, and in different states of preservation. 
The finest are those of Ghizeh, only some six miles 
from Cairo, and can be easily reached by carriage 
or trolley car. These are of prodigious size, fairly 
well preserved, and stand upon the edge of the 



HOLY LAND-EGYPT-TURKEY 231 

desert, grim, and impressive monuments of the 
old days. 

I cannot refrain from making a vigorous protest 
against the horrid horde of dirty and hungry Arabs 
that swarm about the pyramids, serving in the 
capacity of guides. They are a disgusting lot, 
aggressive, impudent, and boisterous. They 
roughly seize tourists, men and women alike, and 
attempt to compel their employment. If you re- 
fuse they become insolent and abusive. They 
ought to be put under strict official control and 
made to conduct themselves with some degree of 
respect and decency. 

The avenue leading from the city out to the 
pyramids and the Sphinx is an imposing and de- 
lightful one. Along its entire length it is lined 
with lofty and superb trees. It connects by a 
short hour's drive the bustle and brightness of the 
city with the quiet and desolation of the desert. It 
is crowded from morning until night. In the early 
part of the day it is filled with traffic, the country 
folks coming and going, and long lines of mules, 
donkeys, and camels carrying the products of the 
country and the wares of the city to and from the 
market. In the afternoon fashionable Cairo — and 
it is a rich and gay city — is walking, driving, and 
motoring, and displaying wealth and beauty, 
groomed and gowned in all the latest styles. 

And so side by side we see the pyramids and 
palaces, the temples and tombs, of the great and 
powerful nations of the past, and the luxury and 



232 TALES OF TRAVEL 

fashion and progress of the present. And the same 
sun shines now as then, and the Nile flows steadily 
on to the sea, and the dead sleep and the living 
labor along its historic banks. 



CHAPTER XXXIX 

CAIRO— ALEXANDRIA— A LITTLE HISTORY- 
SMYRNA— CONSTANTINOPLE. 

On our return from the trip up the Nile we re- 
mained three weeks in Cairo, in order to rest up 
and enjoy the scenes and life of that remarkable 
city. I do not believe that there can be seen on the 
face of the earth as interesting a pageant as daily 
moves along the street in front of Shepheard's 
Hotel, Cairo. There is a large terrace or esplan- 
ade in front of the hotel, where hundreds of people 
can sit and watch the passing show. The per- 
formance is endless. Morning, noon, and night 
the panorama of Oriental life unrolls its living pic- 
tures. People of all shades of color, and in all 
kinds of dress, representing half the countries of 
the world, jostle each other in the crowded streets. 
Carts, carriages, autos, caravans of donkeys and 
camels, riders from the desert on beautiful Arabian 
horses, military companies, weddings and funerals, 
with noisy music and grotesque displays — a vast, 
confused and motley throng. It is a striking scene, 
never to be forgotten. Cairo has wonderful 
mosques, museums, and bazaars. It is one of 
the most interesting cities of the world. We spent 
six weeks there, off and on, with pleasure and profit. 
I had rather an amusing experience upon my first 
arrival at Shepheard's Hotel. It had been my 
practice, from the time I left home, before I 



234 TALES OF TRAVEL 

reached a new country to inform myself all about 
the money in use in it, names of the coins, their 
gold value, &c. Somehow, I omitted to do this 
before arriving in Egypt. I had telegraphed some 
weeks ahead to Shepheard's Hotel, asking that 
accommodations be reserved. When I arrived 
I registered and asked to see the rooms reserved. 
I was shown several, and as one among the num- 
ber suited us fairly well, I inquired what they would 
charge per week for it, including board. "Seven- 
teen hundred and fifty piastres," was the bland 
reply. I hesitated an instant and then said, as in- 
differently as possible, "How much did you say?" 
The clerk replied as before. I rejoined pleasantly : 
"I guess you did not understand me. I do not 
wish to rent the hotel ; I only want room and board 
for myself and wife." He laughed, and said 
politely: "Do you know how much a piastre is in 
American money?" I admitted that I had for- 
gotten for the moment, and he said: "Five cents." 
And so I arranged to stay at that rate, 1750 
piastres per week, or $12.50 per day. It is a good 
idea to learn all about the money of a country be- 
fore you start to travel in it. 

March 12 we went to Alexandria, four hours by 
rail, where we were to take passage for Smyrna, 
Constantinople, Athens, Sicily, and on to the coast 
of Europe. Alexandria is a fine commercial city. 
Its buildings and streets and docks are notable for 
their size, attractiveness, and extent. No city in 
the East compares with it. We sailed on the fol- 
lowing day, Friday, the thirteenth, (please note 



HOLY LAND-EGYPT-TURKEY 235 

that we are not superstitious) , on a Roumanian ship 
with not an officer or employee on board who could 
speak English, and two days later reached Smyrna, 
an important Turkish city and the chief seaport of 
Asia Minor. 

On the way to Smyrna, after reaching the 
Aegean Archipelago, we passed many picturesque 
and historic islands — I have no idea of the number, 
and could learn the names of only a few of them. 
There was Patmos, where the apostle St. John 
lived, and the island of Rhodes, the largest of the 
group. Looking at Rhodes recalled to my mind 
a little interesting history. Way back in the early 
eighties, when I was trying to serve my country as 
a United States consul at Marseilles, France, I was 
waited upon by a syndicate of French bankers, and 
informed that the Sultan of Turkey, who was then, 
as he always has been, in serious financial straits, 
wanted to sell the island of Rhodes. They said 
that if our government would give it the protection 
of the American flag, they would buy it and donate 
to the United States all the land needed for a naval 
station. We did not own then, nor do we now, 
any territory in the Mediterranean, and are depend- 
ent for coaling, supply, and naval stations upon the 
courtesy of foreign powers. I wrote Mr. Blaine, 
who was then Secretary of State, informing him of 
the proposition. He replied that while the United 
States was greatly embarrassed by the lack of naval 
stations abroad, and it would be desirable to secure 
them, if it could consistently do so, our policy of 
upholding the "Monroe doctrine" — not to allow 



2 3 6 TALES OF TRAVEL 

any foreign power to secure territory on our side 
of the sea — would preclude us from seeking to ac- 
quire any from foreign nations; and so the offer 
of the French bankers must be declined. 

How times and things do change! That was 
only twenty-five years ago, a short period in the 
history of a nation, and yet since then we have 
acquired the Sandwich Islands, Porto Rico, and 
the Philippines. Consistency is a prime virtue in 
individuals, and is believed in by nations and 
practiced — when they feel like it. 

Smyrna, from the sea, is an attractive city. It 
lies in a half circle backed by mountains. It has 
a population of three hundred and fifty thousand. 
It is the outlet for a wide range of country, and 
does a large business in cotton, fruits, and Oriental 
fabrics and wares. In the country a few miles 
away are some interesting old structures and ruins, 
notably two immense aqueducts, one Roman and 
the other Grecian. They are imposing, graceful, 
and picturesque. The larger one, of Grecian ar- 
chitecture, is built across a wide gulch in the moun- 
tain, in two parts, and between them is a pool, 
which legend says, was used as the famed "Bath 
of Diana." Back from Syracuse some fifty miles, 
reached by a narrow gauge railroad, is the old city 
of Ephesus, made immortal in Biblical history. 
It is in ruins, but the extensive excavations made 
have revealed many architectural wonders and 
valuable and mysterious antiques. 

A day's sail from Smyrna brought us to Constan- 
tinople, the unique, historic and horrible capital of 



HOLY LAND-EGYPT-TURKEY 237 

the Turkish dominions. It is a city of a million 
people, mostly Turks, and enjoys the distinction 
of being the only city in the world built on two con- 
tinents, Europe and Asia. It is celebrated for 
its mosques, museums, bazaars, and palaces. Its 
streets are narrow, rough, crooked, hilly, and the 
filth and dirt and dust are beyond belief. There 
are miserable dogs by the thousands infesting the 
streets and making night hideous with their howls. 
The Mohammedan religion forbids the killing of 
dogs, and thus they increase until they become an 
intolerable nuisance both by day and night. 

The history of Constantinople is a horrid story of 
fanaticism, cruelty, and blood. It has been the scene 
of many desperate wars and been several times 
destroyed. It is a place of greed and graft. The 
government robs the citizen and the stranger, and 
the people rob the outsiders and one another. The 
plundering devices for extracting money from 
travelers are ingenious and unlimited. From the 
time the stranger arrives until he departs he is sub- 
jected to the most unreasonable and impudent an- 
noyances and demands; he cannot get in nor can 
he get out of the city without complying with 
quarantine, customs, and passport requirements 
that are vexatious, senseless, and expensive, evi- 
dently established and enforced to extort money 
for the benefit of dishonest officials. There is an 
element of almost sublimity about the brazenness 
with which custom inspectors, for instance, will im- 
pudently demand fees for not opening your bag- 
gage, and wrangle with your guide as to the 
amount to be paid. 



238 TALES OF TRAVEL 

The city is located on a series of high hills and 
is divided by the waters of the Golden Horn and 
the Bosphorus. We made an excursion up the 
Bosphorus, which connects the seas of Marmora 
and the Mediterranean with the Black Sea. All 
along its banks are palaces and residences where in 
summer royalty and the rich have their homes. On 
one side is Europe and on the other Asia, only 
this narrow river to divide the two great continents, 
displaying to each other's eyes minarets and pal- 
aces in the play of Eastern light and shade. 

I am glad we went to Constantinople. It was 
an experience worth having. From early boyhood 
I had heard about it and read about it, and now 
I have seen it. It is interesting, odd, and with 
a fascination all its own. Its hilly and dirty streets 
are crowded with a peculiar people, and its throngs 
of men and women, most of the later veiled, make 
an interesting sight. Its mosques are a wonder. 
Saint Sophia, the greatest of them all, is prodigious, 
picturesque, and has a marvelous history. It has 
been several times destroyed and rebuilt, and once 
twelve thousand people were murdered within its 
walls. Admission cannot be gained to any of the 
mosques or government institutions without a pass- 
port from the Sultan, secured from the ambassador 
of your country. And you must be accompanied 
by an officer from your embassy and a member of 
the Turkish police. 

The Bosphorus is as historic as the Nile, and 
poets and painters have made memorable the mys- 
teries and romances that have transpired along the 
banks of the Golden Horn. 



HOLY LAND-EGYPT-TURKEY 239 

Constantinople is the home of the harem. Here 
all Turkish women of the better class are kept se- 
cluded, never appearing upon the streets unless 
heavily veiled, and never talking or exposing their 
faces, even in their homes, to any man other than 
their husband or father, or close relation. They 
have no voice in the selection of their husbands. 
At thirteen years of age the girls must cover their 
faces, and forever after remain in the house, or 
appear only as black specters upon the street. 
Hapless souls ! They have wings but cannot fly, 
kind hearts but cannot do even good. Dreary lives 
they lead, victims of a cruel custom. May free- 
dom some time come to them. 

The weather was raw and cold, for at Constanti- 
nople the winter lingers long. March is a dreary 
month. The wind blowing from the Black Sea 
is wild and icy. It is May, they tell us, before the 
full springtime comes. 



EUROPE 



CHAPTER XL 

ATHENS— A WHITE MAN'S COUNTRY— MODERN AND 
ANCIENT— MESSINA— NAPLES— POMPEII. 

On March 17, in the late afternoon, we 
sailed away from the harbor of Constantinople, 
out over the bright waters of the beautiful Mar- 
mora Sea, and watched in the mellow light the 
shining domes and steeples and minarets of the 
great city as they glistened in the rays of the setting 
sun and quickly faded out in the falling twilight. 

On Sunday morning, March 22, our ship an- 
chored in the harbor of Piaerus, Greece, a few 
miles from the historic and classical city of Athens. 
And, dear reader, what do you think? When we 
went ashore and stood upon the soil of Greece we 
remembered that since leaving San Francisco, 
nearly twenty thousand miles away by direct route, 
and forty thousand miles and more by the devious 
ways by which we had come, that for the first 
time we were in a country where the native popula- 
tion is white. Think of that! We had visited 
lands holding a population in the aggregate of 
more than a thousand million people, and yet not 
a "white man's country" among them all. There 
is something to think about in this. Is the white 
race to dominate the world? Is civilization to 



EUROPE 241 

live and spread? To those who have traveled 
around the world and seen the evidences of great 
empires, greater than any that now exist, that have 
fallen and gone into absolute decay and ruin, have 
seen the relics of wealth, power, genius, and civil- 
ization, where is now only poverty, weakness, ig- 
norance, and savagery, there comes the dreaded 
thought that perhaps in the distant centuries the 
enlightened and progressive nations of to-day may 
be blotted out of existence, and there remain only 
crumbling ruins and scattered records to tell the 
story of their lives. Who knows? 

Athens is a delightfully located and very beau- 
tiful city. It lies some five or six miles back from 
the sea in a semicircular valley, covered thickly 
with fertile fields and surrounded with mountains, 
grim and bare and gray. The city stands on an 
elevation overlooking all the charming valley and 
the mountains and the sea which hem it in. 

We had been traveling so long in countries where 
everything was old, where we saw little of newness 
and growth, and so much of dilapidation and decay 
— everything ancient, nothing modern — that it 
was a revelation and a delight to enter a city where 
all around were evidences of improvement and 
growth, new buildings, public and private, fresh 
from the hands of the builders, and dazzling with 
the brightness of the whitest marble. Athens is 
evidently in a highly prosperous condition, and 
shows every sign of present thrift. Most of its 
buildings, both large and small, the old and the 
new as well, show that refined taste and classic 
16 



242 TALES OF TRAVEL 

beauty that has made Grecian architecture the 
model for all the world. 

But it is not the new Athens, but the old, that 
most attracts and entertains the visitor. Not the 
new buildings, fresh and beautiful as they appear, 
but the ruins of the old ones, vast, majestic, in- 
comprehensible. These tell the story of the ages 
when the wealth, the art, and the architecture of 
Athens were the wonder of the world. Students 
and scholars come to admire, architects to copy, 
and tourists to marvel at these wonderful relics. 

We visited, so far as our short stay would per- 
mit, all the most noted ruins — the Stadium, the 
Acropolis, the Temple of Jupiter, the theatres, etc. 
I have read many descriptions, and seen many pic- 
tures of them, but to little purpose. They must 
be seen to get any adequate conception of what they 
are and were, and seeing them, their vastness so 
bewilders that it is impossible to comprehend and 
appreciate what must have been their greatness and 
beauty. 

Of all the ancient structures, the Stadium only 
has been restored. This has been entirely restored, 
and is again ready for use as a great amphitheater 
where athletic games and contests are conducted. 
It is of prodigious size, and extremely beautiful. 
It is in shape an oblong semicircle, with seats on 
one end and both sides. The seats rise from the 
ground, tier above tier, to an almost dizzy height, 
and are all made from the purest white marble. 
It seats sixty thousand people, and all can see dis- 
tinctly every part of the large arena. Across the 



EUROPE 243 

front where are the entrances and exits, there are 
high marble pedestals, and we were told that on 
these there were to be placed statues of the most 
noted victors in the great international games. 
We were told, also, that a series of international 
games, where contestants from all countries are 
eligible to enter, and which are attended by people 
from all over the world, are held once in seven 
years. The next international event is to be in 
two years, and King Edward, of England, who 
is President of the International Athletic Society, 
has promised to preside. 

A two days' sail from Athens brought us to 
Sicily, where we spent a day at Messina, the largest 
seaport and city on the island. Messina was a 
well built and flourishing city. As we wandered 
over it we wondered at the size and beauty of many 
of its buildings and its attractive shops filled with 
rich fabrics and lovely wares. Less than a year 
ago we drove through its streets, where all was 
life, business and hope, and to-day death, desola- 
tion and despair reign supreme, and a few idle 
wanderers straggle about their ruined homes. 

Another day's sail brought us to Naples, and 
made us feel that we were getting nearly home. 
Here I received the sad news of the sudden death 
of my oldest daughter. I had heard nothing of 
her illness, and the news brought a great shock. 
She was the child of my early life, and a tender and 
trusted companion and counselor of later years. 
I read the sad message of her death while in a 
carriage on the streets of Naples. As I saw the 



244 TALES OF TRAVEL 

great throngs upon the crowded streets, some hur- 
rying happily on to pleasure, and others dragging 
wearily to their toil, I thought how sadly true it 
is, that 

"The gay will laugh when thou art gone, 
The solemn brood of care plod on, 
And each one as before will chase his favorite phantom." 

From Naples we visited the buried city of 
Pompeii. There was little change since a last 
visit I had made years before, only a few more 
excavations revealing new ruins and more skeletons 
of men and beasts which had been burned and 
buried on the awful day of its destruction. We 
drove up the mountain side of Vesuvius, and saw 
the dreadful havoc wrought by the stream of lava 
that poured down at the last great eruption two 
years before, when fields and houses and vineyards 
were destroyed and many lives were lost. From 
Naples we proceeded to Marseilles and disem- 
barked there for a summer's tour throughout 
Europe. 



CHAPTER XLI 

EUROPE— MARSEILLES— NICE— MONTE CARLO. 

I HAVE been in great doubt about attempting to 
write anything of our trip in Europe, so many 
Americans have visited Europe, and it has been 
so frequently and fully written up that, fond as 
I am of reviewing its lessons and recalling its many 
charms, it yet almost seems like "Love's labor 
lost" to attempt to write anything further con- 
cerning it that shall prove instructive or entertain- 
ing. But the title and introduction to this book 
promise to tell tales of travel "all around the 
world," and so I will give hasty sketches of the 
people, the scenes, and the institutions in such 
places in Europe as we visited. Then can the 
reader who enjoys our company, and has the pa- 
tience to follow us through all our journeyings, 
know that we have circled the globe in safety, and 
are among the friends and enjoying the comforts 
of our home land. 

Marseilles, next to Paris, is the largest city in 
France. It is beautifully located and laid out, and 
of great commercial importance. It is the prin- 
cipal seaport of the Mediterranean — that mighty 
sea, three thousand miles in length, whose waters 
wash so many historic shores. Bismarck once 
spoke of Marseilles as "the mighty commonwealth 
of Marseilles. The undisputed queen of the great 



246 TALES OF TRAVEL 

basin of the Mediterranean, by tradition, posses- 
sion, wealth and capacity." 

There is much manufacturing at Marseilles, it 
being a large mercantile center, but the dominant 
interest is shipping. Ships run from there to every 
prominent port in the world. The docks around 
its two harbors are almost as extensive as those at 
Liverpool. 

It is a curious and bewildering experience to walk 
or ride along the vast docks and see and hear the 
motley crowd of people of every name and nation. 
The dapper Frenchman, the burly Englishman, the 
stolid Arab, the lively Chinamen, the courtly Span- 
iard, the dark-eyed Italian, the portly German, the 
haughty Turk, the dirty Malay, the brown East 
Indian, the ruddy-faced Scandinavian, the aus- 
tere Russian, Greeks, negroes, and hosts of others, 
they are all there, — a motley mass, indeed. I am 
sorry to say, however, that there are but few, very 
few, Americans to be seen. It is a sad fact that 
the shipping interests of the United States are in- 
significantly small. One may look through the 
wilderness of masts that crowd the harbor, see hun- 
dreds of flags, but the beloved Stars and Stripes 
are not floating there. 

The French people, as all know, are proverbially 
polite. They are gay, reckless, and fascinating. 
Fond of their country, they seldom emigrate. 
While eager in the pursuits of business, and often 
unscrupulous in their dealings, especially with 
strangers, yet they are greatly devoted to their 
pleasures. They all seem determined to "have a 



EUROPE 247 

good time if they don't lay up a cent," as the saying 
is. It seems to be the policy of the general French 
government and of local municipalities to make 
large expenditures for the entertainment of the 
people. 

It is a rare sight here, to drive out on a pleasant 
afternoon, especially on Sunday, and see the crowds 
that throng the parks, gardens, and fashionable 
boulevards. The drives are delightful, through 
shady avenues, along beautiful lakes, by sparkling 
cascades, and among gardens rich with the fra- 
grance and radiance of tropical fruits and flowers. 
You see all sorts of people and every imaginable 
kind of conveyance. Lean hunger and portly 
plenty, the ragged beggar and the jeweled prince, 
can all be seen. Elegant carriages, with prancing 
steeds and liveried lackeys, roll smoothly by, and 
little carts, drawn by shaggy donkeys, trundle close 
behind. 

The place of greatest interest about Marseilles 
is the Chateau d'lf, a rocky island, black and 
frowning, that rises high out of the sea in front 
of the city. It has been made famous by the story 
of the Count of Monte Cristo, and is where the 
"Man of the Iron Mask" was imprisoned. The 
grim dungeon on top of the island has long been 
used in which to confine prisoners of war and state. 
For hundreds of years this gloomy fortress has 
furnished food for many horrid stories and wild 
legends. 

From Marseilles we proceeded to Nice, a ride 
of five hours by rail, close along the shore of the 



248 TALES OF TRAVEL 

sea. Nice is the largest and most fashionable win- 
ter resort in Europe. It is a most beautiful city, 
and the climate for the colder half of the year is 
delightful. It abounds in the richest and most en- 
ticing shops, fine hotels, splendid mountain drives, 
and a great variety of amusements. I know of no 
place where in "the season" there is more of com- 
fort and entertainment. It is a great resort for 
Americans. The hotels and boarding houses — 
and there are hundreds of them — are always 
crowded in winter. There is a great carnival held 
every year, which attracts many people from all 
over Europe. It is a most charming region all 
along the Riviera, and all the towns, and there are 
many small ones, besides Nice, Cannes, and Men- 
tone, are filled with tourists. Fruits and flowers 
are abundant, and fashion and fun and folly hold 
high revelry day and night under these sunny 
skies. 

Another great resort near Nice is Monte Carlo, 
twenty minutes by rail, and about an hour by trol- 
ley. The ride, especially by trolley, is most fas- 
cinating, the road running around and over and 
through the spurs of the mountains, across charm- 
ing valleys green and rich with foliage and flow- 
ers, and all along in view the bright blue sea. I 
know no place in the world where nature presents 
more of her varied charms than here, and wealth 
and art have contributed to complete the picture. 
As all readers know, here is the largest, richest and 
most seductive gambling establishment in the 
world. It is the old story. Beauty and wicked- 



EUROPE 249 

ness go hand in hand, and greed hides its hideous 
face behind many charms and lures its victims to 
their ruin. "The Casino," as the great building 
that contains the gaming rooms is called, is ex- 
tensive, artistic and palatial in its appointments. 
It presents temptations to the eye, the ear, and the 
appetite. The finest refreshments are served, the 
rarest pictures adorn the walls, and the greatest 
musicians in Europe are heard in its orchestra and 
operas. Nowhere can be found greater attractions 
for the tourist or the resident. 

The gaming tables are always crowded from 
morning until night with both men and women. 
The hours for play are from 10 A. M. to 11.30 
p. M. Young people under age are not admitted. 
I have been there many times (some years ago I 
lived two winters at Nice) , and I have never failed 
to find a crowd, or to get greatly interested in 
watching the games and studying the personalities 
of the players. I have seen fortunes lost and won. 
It is an extremely democratic place. High and 
low, rich and poor, gather at the gaming tables. 
Dukes, princesses and millionaires sit side by side 
with shopkeepers, milliners and clerks. Here I 
have seen old women, looking to be eighty years of 
age, with faded sight and trembling hands, too 
infirm to count or handle the coins they lost or won, 
with maids at their elbows to assist them. No 
money can be borrowed, or drafts or checks cashed, 
or jewelry pledged in the Casino. I have seen 
omen sit down blazing with precious stones, lose 
all the money they had, leave the table and go out 



2 5 o TALES OF TRAVEL 

to some convenient pawn shop, come back without 
an article of jewelry on their persons, sit down to 
the table and plunge again into the seductive game. 



CHAPTER XLII 

ROME, THE IMPERIAL CITY— FLORENCE. 

From Nice we went direct to Rome. It is a trip 
of twenty-two hours by the fastest trains, and the 
route is an interesting one, trains stopping at 
Genoa, Pisa, and several other important Italian 
cities. 

It would be folly for me to attempt any descrip- 
tions of Rome. Years of study and research will 
not reveal, nor many volumes make record of its 
beauties and wonders and history. Every library, 
public or private, contains the works of historians 
and novelists telling of its rise and life and fall. 
Mighty Rome ! Wicked and wonderful old city. 
The most impressive, majestic and entrancing spec- 
tacle that the ages have ever revealed to human 
view. The annals of time furnish no parallel, and 
the achievements of men no records, to compare 
with what transpired in Rome during the many 
eventful years between its founding and the time 
when that great wave of Teutonic darkness rolled 
down upon the Imperial City and the barbarian 
Goth stabled his warhorse in the palace of the 
Caesars. 

We spent five delightful weeks there, visiting 
its most noted temples, churches, art galleries, and 
wandering among its prodigious ruins. There are 
scenes on every hand to charm, astonish, and be- 



252 TALES OF TRAVEL 

wilder. The climate there for half the year is dis- 
agreeable — hot in summer and cold and raw in 
winter. There are many excellent hotels and after 
the fatigue and trials of sightseeing one can find 
most comfortable and luxurious accommodations. 

Next to Rome, Florence to me is the most inter- 
esting city in Italy, although many travelers prefer 
Venice. In my fancy Florence — sitting upon the 
smiling banks and listening to the music of the 
Arno as she flows swiftly to the sea, gazing upon 
the mountains white with winter snows, or rich 
with foliage and flowers and purple vineyards in 
the summer time — is one of the most restful and en- 
chanting spots on earth. I feel as Rogers wrote 
when he said: 

"Of all the fairest cities of the earth, 
None is so fair as Florence. 'Tis a gem 
Of purest ray; and what a light broke forth 
When it emerged from darkness ! Search within, 
Without; all is enchantment! 'Tis the Past 
Contending with the Present, and in turn 
Each has the mastery." 

Florence is a very treasure-house of art and his- 
tory and legend. Its many galleries and churches 
and palaces are filled with artistic wonders 
wrought out by the world's greatest sculptors and 
painters. Its history reaches far back into an- 
tiquity, and every street, tower and temple has its 
curious legends. You cannot tread a street in Flor- 
ence, no matter how humbly inhabited or how re- 
mote from the city's busier life, that you will not 
find some beauty and charm in it. There seems to 
be more graciousness and gentleness among the 



EUROPE 253 

residents of Florence than in most cities. The 
people are of a higher type than those from more 
southern Italy. You meet with courtesy from all 
classes. It is a fascinating city in which to quietly 
wander alone, or perhaps with one congenial spirit. 
You find sights, curious or charming, everywhere. 
You meet people mirthful with the joy of life or 
worn with its struggles, but they are all kindly, and 
their eyes are full of dreams. You will see at 
every step something of charm — a fresco on a 
wall, a court, an arcade, a statue; something cu- 
rious, quaint, or beautiful. You may stray into a 
shop where men are busy making curious articles 
of trade, into a castle old and gray and damp, into 
a church where peasants tell their beads in the still- 
ness of the evening-time — it is all so interesting. 
You turn toward your hotel and as you saunter 
slowly on you watch the workers hurrying to their 
homes; the tradesmen taking in their wares; a 
flag is lowered from its staff; a bell booms out the 
hour; a crowd of curious children scatter from 
the walks; a girl from a near-by window hangs 
out a cage that the bird may sing his vespers to the 
closing day; and many other sights you see. But 
weary as you are, you are glad for such a day in 
Florence. 

The climate of Florence, while not an especially 
agreeable one, is much to be preferred to that of 
Rome. It is not so hot in the summer and is dryer 
in the winter. From May to November is the 
best season of the year to visit there, although 



254 TALES OF TRAVEL 

there are many foreign residents who remain there 
the entire year. There is quite a large American 
colony in Florence — with many of its members 
prominent and well-known people. 



CHAPTER XLIII 

VENICE— VIENNA— DRESDEN— BERLIN— BREMEN. 

Owing to the fact that it is built in the sea, Venice 
is probably one of the best known cities in the 
world, as it is one of the most remarkable and his- 
toric. Her present condition is not greatly prom- 
ising, nor her appearance especially attractive; but 
her former splendors and her achievements of the 
past make the story of her eventful life a tale of 
wonder and enchantment. She is literally a city 
of palaces rising between the sea and sky. In early 
days her marble walls, bright with newness, her 
pinnacles and pillars, and arches, mirrored in the 
water and flashing in the sun, must have created a 
scene of perfect enchantment — a miracle of beauty 
and the glory of a dream. But time and storms 
have covered her with wreck and stain and her 
beauty has faded — as her power has waned. Once 
a great republic, the mistress of the seas, an arbiter 
of war and peace between the nations, and a ruling 
power in all the markets of the world, she is now 
but a decaying municipality, filled with a poor, 
struggling, and discouraged people. 

I have visited Venice several times, and at each 
visit I have found less of interest and beauty than 
before. Even the graceful gondolas, with their 
gallant and gorgeous gondoliers, always a prime 
attraction to the tourist, are being driven from the 



25 6 TALES OF TRAVEL 

canals, and noisy steamboats and ill-smelling 
launches are taking their places. 

Still, no traveler in Europe should fail to visit 
Venice. While it is sad and silent now compared 
with its former joy and life, it is yet an exceedingly 
interesting city, and many pleasant days can Be 
spent in visiting its churches and palaces and dun- 
geons, in seeing its famous pictures, watching the 
life of its people, and riding on the waters of its 
canals and bays. The Church of San Marco, the 
Palace of the Doges, the Bridge of Sighs, the 
Grand Canal, the wonderful glass works, the 
Clock Tower, the Winged Lion, the Rialto, where 
Shylock said: 

"Signor Antonio, many a time and oft 
In the Rialto you have rated me 
About my moneys" — 

All these, places of which we have read and won- 
dered all our lives, should be seen, for no brush 
can paint or pen describe them. 

After leaving Venice our next stopping place of 
any length was at Vienna, the charming and flour- 
ishing capital of Austria. Vienna has the reputa- 
tion of being about the most aristocratic city in 
Europe, and after what we saw we concluded that 
she fully deserves it. It was a great sporting and 
festival time when we were there. The annual 
races were on and "Derby Day" made a great dis- 
play of sport and wealth and fashion. The grand 
opera season, always brilliant in Vienna, was at its" 
height ; and to crown all was the celebration of the 



EUROPE 257 

fiftieth anniversary of the rule of the beloved Em- 
peror Francis Joseph — a sovereign whose wisdom 
and justice and gentleness has won for him the loy- 
alty and love of his subjects. 

Not only in Vienna, but in all Austria, the people 
had been for years preparing for this great celebra- 
tion and it was attended by officials and nobles and 
citizens from all parts of the empire. While there 
were the usual festivities incident to such occasions, 
parties, balls, banquets, concerts, fireworks, etc., 
the great feature of the celebration was the mili- 
tary, industrial and historical parade, a most mar- 
velous and imposing display, occupying many 
hours. The Austrians are splendid soldiers — stal- 
wart in size, perfect in discipline, brilliant in dress, 
and as herioc as they are handsome. There were 
hundreds of floats in the parade, large and small — 
odd, elegant, grotesque — representing fifty years of 
the industry, growth, and history of the progressive 
and prosperous Austrian Empire. It was a mam- 
moth and marvelous display. Seats had been 
erected along the line of march, and I was told they 
numbered over one hundred thousand, and the 
prices of the good ones were fixed at twenty-five 
to fifty dollars each, and there were only a very 
few as low as five dollars. There was great dis- 
satisfaction among the lower classes at the high 
prices of seats, as they were debarred from a view 
of the parade. Mobs gathered on the streets, and 
the threats of disorder and violence were so fre- 
quent and bitter that the Emperor ordered that the 
parade extend some miles beyond the route where 

17 



258 TALES OF TRAVEL 

seats were erected, so the poorer people might see 
the great display. 

Vienna is a rich, progressive and attractive city, 
one of the great business centers and most brilliant 
capitals in the world. She is next to and often in 
advance of Paris in setting the fashions for ladies' 
dress. Her trade is extensive and increasing, and 
in some important lines of manufactures, she leads 
all Europe. She has the fullest markets and the 
finest stores, and her luxurious hotels are filled with 
wealth and dress and culture. 

I know of no country where travel is more de- 
lightful in the summer-time than in Germany. Its 
climate is temperate, its scenery varied and attrac- 
tive, its people intelligent, thrifty, and cordial. 
There is every charm of country life, and its cities 
are clean, healthful, and full of business and pleas- 
ure, art and music. Of all its charming cities, and 
there are many, there is none more exquisite, restful 
delicious than Dresden. Here was our next stop 
after leaving Vienna. The change, made in a few 
hours, from the noise, confusion, and ostentation 
of the one, to the quiet and order and simple 
beauty of the other, was an experience delightful 
to enjoy but difficult to describe. Dresden is full 
of charms. Its parks and gardens and drives, its 
fine architecture, its bewitching shops and exquisite 
wares, its imposing churches and famous art gal- 
leries — all attract, satisfy and fascinate. I cannot 
attempt descriptions, but only give general impres- 
sions and effects. 

There is one painting in Dresden, pronounced by 



EUROPE 259 

critics the greatest in the world, that it would be in- 
excusable not to mention. It is the Sistine Ma- 
donna, by Raphael. Its radiant magnificence and 
tender beauty delight, entrance, and awe the be- 
holder. It hangs in a room alone, and so powerful 
and mysterious is its influence, that all who enter 
or depart move on tiptoe and there is heard no 
voice above a whisper. 

Every tourist who makes any pretensions of "do- 
ing Europe," must visit Berlin, the seat of the Im- 
perial government and the residence of the Ger- 
man Emperor. In my opinion, taken as a whole, it 
is the handsomest city in the world. Paris has long 
borne this distinction, but I am sure is no longer 
entitled to it. The beauty of Paris is fading. 
Berlin is growing handsomer year by year. The 
beauty of Paris is in the Champs Elysees and the 
Bois de Boulogne, the most beautiful and noted 
of parks, gardens, drives, and playgrounds. They 
are more extensive, and perhaps more attractive, 
than any in Berlin, but they are fewer in number, 
and the whole city is not covered with beauty spots 
as is Berlin. Go where you may in the latter city, 
you are constantly coming upon the most de- 
lightful natural and artistic surprises. Its parks 
and gardens, its statues and fountains are scattered 
with luxurious profusion all through and around 
the city. Its streets are clean, its buildings fresh 
and bright — and flowers, no end to the flowers, 
look where you will. Not only on the residences, 
the humble as well as the pretentious ones, but on 
the business blocks in many streets, every window 



260 TALES OF TRAVEL 

and balcony is bright with flowers. As you walk 
or drive about the streets, and view the cleanliness 
and brightness and beauty under, around, and 
above you, every day seems like a day of festival. 

As we drove from the station to the hotel, The 
Adlon, as elegant a hotel as I have ever seen, we 
saw floating from the flagstaff the beloved Stars 
and Stripes. I inquired why the American flag 
was hoisted there, and they told me, and with 
much evident pride, that the American Ambassa- 
dor, David Jayne Hill, had just arrived and was 
stopping there. The next day Mr. Hill called 
upon us, and we talked over many things, and 
especially incidents and experiences of our lives in 
Washington. I learned from many sources that 
Ambassador Hill was warmly welcomed at Berlin, 
and that he was much admired by those who had 
met him. 

Berlin has greatly improved in the last few 
years, and I was told that its trade is rapidly ex- 
tending. It gives most distinct promise of becom- 
ing a very large, wealthy and famous city. 

Bremen, where we next stopped, is a typical Ger- 
man city. Its commercial importance comes from 
its being the home port of the vast fleet of ships 
belonging to the North German Lloyd Company. 
The company has its headquarters here and is the 
most prominent factor in the business life of the 
city. Its transportation interests are immense. 
Ships run from here to almost every important port 
in the world. The Germans are great sailors, and 
their ships are always admirably manned and ef- 
ficiently managed. 



CHAPTER XLIV 



COLOGNE— THE GREAT CATHEDRAL— BONES OF THE 
VIRGINS— THE RHINE. 



The trip between Bremen and Cologne is most 
delightful. The country is the richest and busiest 
in Germany. Cities and villages renowned all over 
the world for their diversified manufactures stretch 
thickly all along the route. The smokestacks and 
chimneys of the shops and factories are as thick as 
forest trees. 

Cologne has wonderfully improved within the 
last few years. When I first visited there, in 1878, 
it was a rather small, and decidedly dirty, ill- 
smelling and unattractive city. Its streets were 
narrow and irregular, the sewers were upon the 
surface, the houses were small and cheap. Now 
it has the looks of a thrifty metropolis. Its great 
cathedral with two imposing towers five hundred 
feet in height, although begun some seven hundred 
years ago, has but recently been completed. Its 
foundations began to crumble and had to be re- 
stored before its towers were finished. It is now 
the glory of the modern city and one of the finest 
specimens of Gothic architecture in the world. 

The church of St. Ursula, in whose walls and 
behind whose altars are said to be the bones of 
The Eleven Thousand Virgins, attracts many cu- 
rious visitors. The bones — and human bones, 



262 TALES OF TRAVEL 

too — are there, but how they came there and whose 
bones they are, I don't know or care. The story 
of the slaughtered virgins, however, is constantly 
told by the attendants, but there is no law compell- 
ing one to believe it. 

Vast numbers of travelers visit Cologne on ac- 
count of its location, as it is situated on the beauti- 
ful and historic River Rhine, just at the point 
where the fine scenery begins, which for centuries 
has made this the most famous river in Europe. 
From Cologne start all the passenger steamers that 
carry the tourists up the river, running to Mayence. 

The scenery of the Rhine is not more rugged nor 
romantic than I have seen on at least two Ameri- 
can rivers, but it has many charms, historic and 
legendary. All the hills on the shores of this en- 
chanted stream are crowned with crumbling towers 
and moldering castles famed in story. Every pic- 
turesque ruin has its legend, which clings to it like 
vines to the mossy walls. Tourists sit on the deck 
of the steamer with guide books in hand and find 
in every tower covered with ivy and every crum- 
bling wall some wild tradition of the Middle Ages. 
You seem to float in an atmosphere of romance, 
and these ruins, gray and grim, that frown upon 
you from every hilltop, your imagination peoples 
with heroes of the long gone years. But to leave 
the romance aside and in sober reality gaze upon 
these old structures, they are interesting only as 
they give variety and picturesqueness to the land- 
scape. They are in fact monuments of an age of 
barbarism, when rival chiefs pillaged the people 



EUROPE 263 

and fled to their strongholds for safety. Every- 
thing in their construction — the huge walls, the 
barred windows — all speak of a time of universal 
insecurity, where murder, rapine, and robbery were 
abroad in the land, and every man had to be armed 
against his fellow. As places of habitation they 
were no more cheerful than a prison. And to 
what awful purposes were their castles often ap- 
plied ! Under them were dungeons, dark, damp, 
cold as the grave, where prisoners were confined. 
Could their old walls tell the tales of the past, I 
fear there would be more of the barbarism, terror, 
and savage cruelty than of peace, happiness, and 
knightly chivalry. There are many noted cities 
along the Rhine — Bohn, Coblentz, Bingen, May- 
ence, and numerous smaller places. 

We left the boat at a small landing across the 
river from Mayence and went to Weisbaden, a 
short distance away. It is one of the many fa- 
mous watering places in Germany and people from 
all countries come here to enjoy the beauties of 
the place and drink and bathe in the healing wa- 
ters. I have never seen such lovely parks and 
splendid woods in which to drive, walk, picnic, and 
be happy. And oh, the roses ! Infinite in number 
and variety — red and white, pink, yellow, and crim- 
son. They fill every niche and blossom in every 
possible spot. They clamber over the railings and 
roofs, struggle through the fences and "blossom 
over the garden walls." They climb the trees, 
hide the summer houses and cover even the stables 
with their blossoms and beauty. There is here a 



264 TALES OF TRAVEL 

magnificent club house, with all its pleasant con- 
comitants, for the use of tourists, with concerts by 
the finest orchestras given daily. There are 
many excellent hotels, and whether you are ill or 
well, it would be hard to find a more charming 
place in which to enjoy indoor or outdoor life. 

A few minutes' ride by rail brings us to Frank- 
fort-on-the-Main, one of the most important and 
beautiful of German cities. In history and gen- 
eral literature Frankfort has long occupied a con- 
spicuous place. In location the city is admirably 
situated, and the new and larger part of it clearly 
resembles the best quarters of Paris in its construc- 
tion. Its people are among the most enterprising, 
educated, and refined to be found in the German 
Empire. Its institutions of learning are numerous 
and eminent, and in music, art and scholarship it 
holds high rank. Its opera house, in the beauty of 
its design, elegance of workmanship, and wealth of 
ornamentation, rivals the Grand Opera House of 
Paris. The city abounds in beautiful parks and 
gardens, long shady drives, fountains, and lakes, 
and is remarkable for its cleanliness. The streets 
are wide and clean, and the buildings tasty, white, 
and cheerful. The people seemed to be all out-of- 
doors in the evening, riding, promenading the 
parks, and gathered in the gardens, eating, drink- 
ing, visiting, and enjoying the music of the various 
bands. A finer looking class I never saw. 



CHAPTER XLV 

HEIDELBERG— BADEN BADEN— IGNORANCE OF AMER- 
ICA—GERMAN LIFE— SWITZERLAND. 

Heidelberg is one of the interesting cities of Ger- 
many. It is old, quaint and curious. It shows 
little of newness and growth. Its chief attractions 
are the university and the great castle, which seems 
to have been half palace and half fortress. The 
reputation of its university is worldwide. The 
buildings belonging to it are widely scattered and 
are small, old and weatherbeaten. No one would 
imagine that within those rough and dingy walls 
had been educated many of the world's greatest 
scholars. 

It takes a long hard climb to reach the height 
on which stands the castle, now gone almost to 
entire ruin. But it well rewards you for a visit. 
It is one of the most striking relics of the old days. 
The view from the top of the hill commands a 
most extensive prospect — the valley of the Rhine 
and Neckar, the Odenwald, the Black Forest, etc. 
The castle shows something of the luxury and ex- 
travagance that prevailed when it was occupied. 
There were rooms of state and dining-rooms that 
would accommodate many hundreds of guests. In 
one of the many kitchens whole oxen were roasted. 
In the basement are several immense wine tanks, 
one of them being said to hold two hundred thou- 
sand gallons. Pipes were run from the tanks up 



266 TALES OF TRAVEL 

into the dining-rooms and the wine pumped 
through them. They were surely high livers in 
the old days. 

Baden Baden has long been one of the most cele- 
brated summer resorts of Europe. Thousands 
visit Baden Baden every summer to drink of its 
healing waters, enjoy the mountain airs and wander 
amid the enchanting scenery that surrounds the 
lovely city. There is no city of its size in Europe 
where so much money has been expended in sup- 
plementing the attractions of nature with the cost- 
lier though not more charming beauties of art. 
For many years the great gambling establishment 
now located at Monte Carlo was established at 
Baden Baden, and every device that money could 
purchase was employed to make the place attrac- 
tive, and thus increase the number of visitors, 
many of whom had their fortunes swallowed up 
in this whirlpool of ruin. The "casino" which 
was the former gambling establishment is now 
used for a restaurant, concert and ball rooms. We 
attended one of the promenade concerts and balls 
which are held there every pleasant night of the 
season. The building is palatial in its proportions 
and finishings and one goes up the broad marble 
steps as if he were ascending a temple. Within 
the dazzling vestibule liveried servants with courtly 
bows and smiles welcome the stranger. Near by 
is another grand edifice, called the "Drink Hall," 
where from beautiful fountains pour out the hot 
mineral waters. The waters of several celebrated 
springs can be had without money and without 



EUROPE 267 

price. The waters are all warm, but contain 
widely different ingredients, and have long been 
celebrated all over Europe for their valuable me- 
dicinal properties. 

To an American traveler it seems strange how 
little foreigners, as a rule, know of this country. 
In the Far East, possibly barring some sections 
of China and Japan, the common people know ab- 
solutely nothing of the United States. They have 
heard that somewhere across the sea — they don't 
know where — there is a great country and a won- 
derful people, and that's all they know, and all 
most of them care about. Even in Europe there 
is a general ignorance concerning our country. At 
Heidleberg one of the faculty of the unversity, a 
"Doctor of Philosophy," expressed the greatest 
astonishment when I told him that we had lines 
of railway more than three thousand miles in 
length. He inquired how many people we had 
and when I told him some eighty millions he ex- 
claimed: "Wundershon! Only eighty millions in 
that great land!" and it is indeed "Wundershon," 
when we think of the jostling millions in these 
small European countries. When I told him of 
some of the States and Territories of the West, 
with their boundless resources and small popula- 
tion, he could hardly believe I was in earnest, and 
exclaimed: "Ach Gott, no wonder so many Ger- 
mans go over there to live !" And so it goes. One 
meets with just such people here on every hand. 

The Germans here in their native land are in 
their general ways and habits about as they are 



268 TALES OF TRAVEL 

with us, industrious, thrifty, sociable, fond of their 
pipes, their Limburger, and lager. In their social 
habits they are not unlike the French, fond of 
music and society, and on all evenings, Sundays 
and holidays crowd the gardens and parks and 
all public places in search of enjoyment. In every 
city the most frequented places are the gardens. 
Here they all go, men, women, and children, to 
visit, and drink, and hear the music. You never 
see any intoxication or rowdyism. They simply 
have a quiet, sociable time, a sensible and cheap 
recreation after the labors of the day. It is in their 
gatherings you can get the truest idea of German 
life and manners, for their outdoor recreations 
form a large part of the existence of the people, 
and is an important element in their national life. 
One might travel through Germany from the Bal- 
tic to the Adriatic and see all the castles and pal- 
aces, the museums and picture galleries, and yet 
know very little of the people. Some rigid mor- 
alists and narrow-minded bigots would look upon 
these happy scenes in the German gardens where 
friends and families nightly meet to pass a few 
pleasant hours as scenes of sinful enjoyment that 
should be discontinued and suppressed. 

"Alas for the rarity, 
Of Christian charity, 
under the sun." 

From Germany we went to Switzerland, to 
spend the months of July and August. Our first 
stop was at Schaffhausen, just across the border, at 
the great falls of the Rhine. It is a quiet, restful, 



EUROPE 269 

rural spot. The best hotel, the Schweizerhof — ■ 
and it is an excellent one — is on the hill opposite 
the falls, and permits a splendid view of them. 
At night they are illuminated by electric lights and 
red fire and they present a most novel and fascinat- 
ing picture. 

We visited many of the cities and resorts of 
Switzerland, and greatly enjoyed their comforts 
and beauties. It is truly a wonderland; but it has 
been so often described that repetition would be 
uninteresting. Aside from its scenic beauty, there 
is one art work that all visitors should see. It is 
"The Lion of Lucerne," by Thorwaldsen, intended 
to commemorate the courage and fidelity of the 
Swiss regiments who were guards of King Louis 
XVI, and who in defending him were massacred 
in Paris, on the fatal 10th of August, 1792. Never 
was a great act of courage more simply, yet more 
grandly illustrated. The "Lion" is of colossal 
size, being twenty-eight feet long, cut in the side 
of an overhanging rock. The noble beast is dying, 
a broken lance protruding from his side. But as 
he sinks in death he stretches out one huge paw 
over the shield which bears on it the lilies of 
France, the emblem of that royal power which 
he had vainly endeavored to protect. There is 
something almost human in the great, sad face, as 
it expresses not only the pain of death, but the 
deeper agony of defeat. Nothing in ancient sculp- 
ture gives more of mournful dignity in death. 

Leaving Switzerland in August, we spent a few 
weeks each in Paris and London, sailing for home 
from Southampton, September 20, 1908. 



HOME AGAIN 
CHAPTER XLVI 

HARDSHIPS OF TRAVEL— SUGGESTIONS— EXPENSE. 

Our trip occupied two years and four months. 
What I have written in the foregoing pages about 
it I hope will give some faint idea of the places and 
people and things to which the imagination of 
many are attracted, in a greater or less degree, and 
on which mine had dwelt for many years. Some 
of the descriptions were written on the spot, and 
others later and were then intended only for the 
eyes of friends, with no thought of their publica- 
tion in book form. I do not offer this as an ex- 
cuse for their imperfections, but as an assurance 
to the reader that they were written amid such 
environments as to give the liveliest impression of 
novelty and freshness. 

I cannot close without making a few suggestions 
which may be of some value to persons who hope 
to make trips similar to the one we have made, 
and to correct what seems to be a generally erron- 
eous impression as to the character of foreign 
travel, especially in the Orient. We have had 
letters, scores upon scores of them, congratulating 
us upon our good fortune in being able to leave 
business and home and "enjoy the rest" and the 



HOME AGAIN 271 

"recreation" and the "delights of foreign travel," 
and all that. Most people seem to think that a 
"trip around the world" is a protracted and hilari- 
ous picnic, filled with days of ease and rest and per- 
petual enjoyment and recuperation. 

My dear reader, let me warn you against this en- 
ticing and egregious error. Nothing could be 
further from the truth. Travel in all the East, 
from Japan around to Europe, is exceedingly, and 
I might more properly say, distressingly hard — 
tiresome to body and brain. I have done a great 
deal of hard work in my busy life, both manual 
and mental, but I never have experienced more 
weariness and exhaustion, both to the spirit and 
the flesh, than during the many months of Oriental 
travel. You may wonder what is the reason of 
this. We have certainly taken time enough. 
Many people get on board steamers at New York 
or San Francisco and ride around the world in 
three or four months. It can be circled in a much 
shorter period, but of course such travelers see 
little and know nothing of the countries whose bor- 
ders they barely touch. We bought around the 
world tickets, and used the larger part of them, 
but they cover little other than steamship travel, 
and this is but a fraction of the traveling that must 
be done, if you are to see the world. 

It is the traveling in the interior of the Eastern 
countries that is the hardest — poor transportation 
in uncomfortable trains and ships, riding on the 
backs of camels and donkeys, in jinrickshas and 
chairs. It is the poor hotels, with insufficient food 



^2. TALES OF TRAVEL 

or that which is unpalatable or unhealthful. It 
is the absence of good water, the changing climates, 
and the irregular hours for sleep and food. I have 
been for many years, aside from the occasional use 
of some other beverages, a great drinker of ice 
water. I have used it morning, noon, and night. 
I did not expect to get it when I left home, for I 
knew that it was not generally drunk anywhere else 
in the world. But, bless you, while in most of the 
Oriental countries we could not get any kind of 
natural water that it was safe to drink. All doc- 
tors, tourists, and residents in such countries as 
China, Malacca, Java, Burma, India, Ceylon, 
Egypt, Palestine, Turkey, etc., told us we "must 
not drink the water at the peril of our lives." 
In Burma and India we were warned not even to 
cleanse our teeth or wash in it. 

Now what do you think of that? We went for 
months through the terrible tropical heat of these 
countries without drinking a drop of natural water. 
We used only mineral waters — soda water chiefly. 
How I hate it! It makes me gag now to write 
about it. The food, too — but it was awful, as a 
rule. A good hotel table is not to be found in the 
Orient. The most encouraging thing that you 
can say is that some are worse than others. Why, 
I lost twenty pounds in a few months just from 
sheer starvation. One article of civilized food you 
can always get — eggs. Sometimes, like the coun- 
tries which produced them, they were old, and they 
were always small; it took about four "to make a 
dose for an adult." But they were life-savers. I 



HOME AGAIN 273 

feel that but for eggs I never should have survived. 
Now every time I see a respectable hen I feel like 
tipping my hat to her. 

And then the sight-seeing in general is the hard- 
est sort of work. It exhausts both mentally and 
physically. No matter how novel or how enjoy- 
able or how profitable, it is exceedingly wearisome. 
I care not what the nature of sight-seeing is, climb- 
ing mountains, strolling through forests, inspecting 
temples or palaces, admiring the creations in art 
galleries, wandering amid marvelous and historic 
ruins, attending strange and interesting rites and 
ceremonies, witnessing spectacles, splendid or gro- 
tesque, beautiful or barbaric — it is extremely tire- 
some all the same. 

With this constant and arduous travel, with 
tropical and enervating climates, with insufficient 
and improper food and rest, with the steady strain 
and toil of sight-seeing, is it any wonder that there 
is small chance for the world traveler to find rest 
and recreation? 

No, gentle reader, don't start on a trip around 
the world with the idea of "getting a rest." You 
won't find it. Provide for taking rest before you 
start, and after you return. You will find it can- 
not be secured while you are en route. No matter 
how much time you take you cannot relax and 
recreate in bad climates and in countries where dis- 
comforts and deprivations are universal and un- 
avoidable. 

Well, my friends, I suppose you begin to think 
from all this that our trip has been something of 
a disappointment and failure ? That we have not 
18 



274 TALES OF TRAVEL 

enjoyed it as we expected to do? Not a bit of 
it. The trip has been a great and glorious one, 
despite its privations and hardships. In travel, 
as in many other of the experiences of life, that 
which involves the greatest struggle, often yields 
the richest rewards. A thing that costs nothing 
is apt to be worth nothing. The mountain peaks 
that are the highest and hardest to climb reveal 
the widest and most charming views. Our antici- 
pations, high as they were, have been more than 
realized. The imagination cannot picture what 
the reality reveals. The greatest trouble is, that 
there is so much that the eye cannot scan, nor the 
mind compass and comprehend it all. The sights 
are so many and so marvelous that while they may 
interest and enchant, they also sometimes confuse 
and bewilder. 

You know how we often hear people flippantly 
exclaim: "Oh, the world is not very large after 
all," when they have not seen the smallest frac- 
tion of it, but perhaps have met somebody that 
they knew or that some friend knew, who lived 
some distance away. My esteemed reader, don't 
you believe such talk. It is the most arrant non- 
sense. The world is big, prodigiously and incom- 
prehensibly big. You may surround it, but you 
cannot comprehend it. It is too vast, varied, and 
wonderful. The people, the scenes, the things— 
oh, but there is no use in talking ! 

A trip around the world if sufficient time and 
expense, effort and observation are devoted to it, is 
a liberal education, and furnishes food for thought 



HOME AGAIN 275 

for a lifetime. How it does work havoc with our 
opinions, prejudices, and beliefs ! It broadens all 
our views of life — reveals such wonders in nature, 
in art and history, as we had never dreamed of, 
such monuments and ruins and relics, as show that 
the works of to-day are trivial, transitory, and 
insignificant compared with the mighty doings of 
the past. It lifts the horizon of our lives, that 
in our usual home work shuts us so closely in, and 
brings to view the whole great world, with its 
many peoples and things, its history and all its vast 
concerns. 

But how it does take the conceit out of one ! 

And now just a few practical suggestions. A trip 
around the world, if made fairly comprehensive, 
say about such a trip as we have taken, should oc- 
cupy not less than two years. As little baggage 
should be carried as possible. Small trunks are 
to be preferred to larger ones. The ordinary 
steamer trunks of the best makes are the most de- 
sirable. A good quantity of hand luggage is neces- 
sary, and a "hold-all" in which to pack rugs, cush- 
ions, and all sorts of odds and ends, is useful. One 
must have both heavy and light clothing. In many 
of the tropical countries the lightest clothing is 
required in the daytime and the warmest at night. 
The trip should be arranged, as far as possible, 
with reference to the climate in the various coun- 
tries to be visited. Letters of credit are the most 
convenient form in which to carry money. Care 
should be taken not to take the money of one 



276 TALES OF TRAVEL 

country into another, except that English gold is 
current everywhere. 

As to the cost of such a trip, of course, the ex- 
pense will depend much upon the means and habits 
of the traveler. It is always well to expect to 
spend considerable in making purchases. No man, 
and surely no woman, can make a trip around the 
world and not buy a good many of the novel and 
beautiful articles exposed for sale in every country. 
My experience has been that two persons, a man 
and his wife, can travel comfortably, first class on 
all ships, trains and at hotels, for from twenty to 
twenty-five dollars a day, exclusive of purchases. 
One person traveling the same way, would expend 
about twelve to fifteen dollars a day. Of course 
the trip could be made, and no doubt fairly com- 
fortably, for considerably less, and it might easily 
be made to cost much more. My experience is 
that it is not desirable to attempt to practice a rigid 
economy when traveling at home or abroad. 

We had a pleasant, though rather slow trip 
across the Atlantic. There was one experience, 
new to me in shipboard life, which was highly en- 
tertaining. While before I left home I had read 
and heard a good deal about wireless telegraphy, 
and what it was accomplishing, I supposed that 
it was only the briefest and most important dis- 
patches that were sent in this way, and those not 
very regularly and frequently. To my surprise, 
after we had got well out to sea, we received 
lengthy messages every day, containing much inter- 



HOME AGAIN V7 

esting news as well as a great deal of not much im- 
portance, about the same as we find in the daily 
papers. The markets, financial and commercial, 
were given, political news, accidents, weather re- 
ports, social doings, and even horse races and prize 
fights were reported. At dinner each night the 
captain told us of many ships with which he had 
been talking and how they were getting on. Isn't 
it wonderful? 

On the morning of September 28 we sailed up 
the harbor of New York, and gazed upon its 
familiar scenes with wild delight. As we passed 
the revenue cutter anchorage at Staten Island, there 
lay the Mohawk, upon which we had embarked 
at the starting of our long journey, and we knew 
that what had seemed almost like a dream was a 
reality — we had surely made a trip "all around the 
world." 

A little later, as the great ship swung from the 
stream and entered the berth at her pier, we stepped 
quickly upon the dock and surrounded by the 
scenes of home and the greetings of welcoming 
friends, there came the blessed thought that we 
were on our own soil again, in a land where is the 
best government, the most general prosperity, and 
the most intelligent and happy people in any coun- 
try under the sun. 

THE END. 



